Cold Blooded
by DiabloVixen
Summary: Clarke has walked away from Camp Jaha and everything she used to know. But her time in the woods is short lived when she comes face to face with an enemy she only knows by name. She finds herself drawn to the new clan, that is until she starts to learn their buried secrets and realize how much danger she's really in. The real question is if she will have to face it on her own.
1. Introduction

In the couple of weeks since she left Camp Jaha she had seen such beautiful places. Ever since Clarke and the 100 had landed on the ground they had been too busy fighting for their lives to even notice the beauty that was all around them. But Clarke hadn't even seen another person since leaving her friends and family behind. And for some reason that filled her with an overwhelming sense of peace

Part of her knows that she should feel some sense of loss at leaving them. That she should long to be back with her friends and family, laughing at the dinner table over a hot meal and sleeping in a room with a padded mattress but she just can't bring herself to miss them. She can feel the blood of hundreds of lives soaking her hands. And she knows that every time she would looked at them, she'd see reminders of all the death and destruction she helped cause.

The teachers and historians on the Ark hadn't told them much about what happened here on the planet, they instead chose to focus on the future, studying survival techniques for when they eventually landed back on the ground and science to get the human race back to its full strength. But stories of war and destruction still made their way around the Ark in whispers, some of the stories seemed wrapped in lore while others seemed to be based in truth but over the decades the two versions seemed to melt together and Clarke could never tell which stories were which.

She did know one common message both sets of stories carried. The people on the ground were responsible for the destruction of this planet, yes, they had built the Ark and yes, they developed the technology that allowed them to survive in space but the only reason they needed to send people away to the safety of outer space in the first place was because they were destroying this planet with their greed and violence.

But no matter how many ears heard or mouths spoke these stories, the human race seemed doomed to repeat itself. They still fought. They still bled and they still destroyed each other for that little piece of something that never had before.

Lexa had told Clarke that the grounders were ruthless because it was how they needed to survive. Clarke felt a little pull in her chest at the thought of that night in Lexa's tent. She tried to bury the kiss deep in her memory because it did nothing but cause her misery. Thoughts of the kiss, of Lexa's gentle lips, of her nose gently caressing Clarke's cheek. It instantly brought up thoughts of what happened just a few hours later. The feeling of betrayal and abandonment as she watched Lexa's back turn to her and walk away. She had never felt so alone.

This world was just like the one before it. The one Clarke's relative had left behind. Everyone looked out for themselves, stealing from anyone who didn't belong, taking things they didn't need. Instead of learning and growing from their tattered pasts, they have answered savagery with savagery, manipulating and abusing each other not just to survive in this cruel world but to thrive and dominate over one another.

And Clarke had become sick of it. She had been fighting since her feet touched the soil, and she was exhausted.

Between the Woods Clan, the people of Mount Weather or even her own people, they all had varying degrees of ruthlessness. Executions, murders, all surrounded with laws, rules and traditions to help justify it all and let them sleep at night.

But how could she think she was any better than the rest of them?

She had shot Dante and played his dying breathes over the radio for his own son to hear. She had murdered innocent people to save her own that day on the Mountain. She had pulled that lever and watched as hundreds gasped and choked on the toxic air while blisters burned into their flesh.

All that death.

Because of a choice she had made.

She had to save her people. She was left no other choice.

But who was she to decide who lives and who dies?

She sighed as she stepped out of the dark woods and into a large clearing.

The day was still new, the sun just making its way over the horizon leaving the sky a light blue. The seasons had begun to show signs of change, the leaves were already starting to change to shades of orange and yellow. The cool nights had started to leak into the morning leaving a light mist over the grass coating it in a light layer of water.

Clarke had spent the night inside of a hallowed out tree trunk. She hadn't slept comfortably though she had gotten used to that in the past couple of weeks. She had slept upright, with her neck twisted in an uncomfortable way. But she had learned to sometimes sacrifice comfort for safety. She was well hidden from anything that might patrol the forests as night and she had made it to another day. And that was all that mattered.

She readjusted the backpack she had casually slung over her shoulder. In it she had carried the minimum supplies she had managed to snag from the old 100 camp. She found a couple of empty bottles, she had filled them up at the river before she continued on her journey. She also managed to find a tattered bundle of rope and a little pocket knife someone had left behind. It was a meager haul but they had taken anything of real use back to Camp Jaha, and she wasn't going back there any time soon. She knew enough about the land from her training on the Ark and her short time with Lexa to know which mushrooms were safe to eat and she hoped she could do some hunting or fishing soon.

She took a few more steps forward before she she could really see the entire valley. She felt the air escape her lungs in a gasp.

A veil of white clouds covered the tips of two mountains that rose in the distance. Between them was a staggered valley with a fast moving river rushing through the center. Even from here she could hear the water crashing against the rocks below. The only thing that stood between herself and the river was a long field of tall grass with flowers that held hints of purple and white flowers. The grass looked like it probably reached up to Clarke's waist.

Clarke dropped her backpack onto the grass and used it to shield her jeans from the wet ground as she sat and used the moment to enjoy the landscape. She had spend so much time on her ground with a mission in mind. She always had somewhere to be, someone to meet or something to plan. But she honestly didn't have a plan and as scary as that sounded sometimes, it was nice to be able to sit here and not feel like she was wasting time. There was no one to save, no rescues to plan, she could just be herself.

In the survival classes she had taken on the Ark, they had always taught the importance of bodies of water, especially running water like a river. The flowing of the river told her the direction she was heading and that was useful in case she ever wanted to find her way back to the Camp Jaha. Not to mention the fact that the water was an important life support tool and the countless edible plants and wildlife she could find thriving along the banks of the river.

But the path down to that river wasn't as obvious as the decision to follow it. The large field in front of her was gorgeous with its flowers but the tall grass could hide numerous dangerous creatures. They had learned about snakes, insects and various other predators that could hinder survival and if there was anything the Pauna or River Serpent taught her, it was that there were many creatures out here that were never documented or had never been seen before by people of the Ark. And she wasn't sure she'd want to risk discovering a new species unseen while trampling through that grass all by herself.

To the left of the field was a rocky cliff edge. She didn't have enough rope to completely repel down what looked to be a deep drop and she didn't trust what little rope she had. There was another path to the right that was through a thin forest of vines and trees but it was going to be a much longer walk down. It was the longer way but Clarke wasn't in much of a hurry anyway. She stood up, picked her pack off the ground and shook the water off of it.

The hair stood up on the back of her neck.

She had become so accustomed to the early morning birds and their songs that their silence screamed louder in her ears than a siren. Something nearby had scared the birds away and the thought of what the could be made Clarke feel uneasy.

Something or someone was out there.

She turned her head and studied the woods behind her. She caught no figures or shapes but knew that something could easily be hiding in the shadows of the trees. She could feel their eyes watching her. She quickly shouldered her backpack before seeing movement out of the corner of her eye.

She didn't have time to decide in any other plan and instead she took off for the field of grass.

Her legs moved as fast as the could, the half filled bottle of water slammed against her back with every step but she didn't stop.

She felt her boots slip on the wet grass. The morning dew soaked through her jeans as she fell to her knees.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw a dark figure finally stepping out from the woods. Even from this short distance Clarke knew the figure would easily tower over her. He stopped and tilted his head, assessing Clarke.

She knew her path was obvious, the only advantage she had was the short distance they had between them and she had to be faster then this guy. She just had to be. She hoped to use both her advantages to put enough space between her and her pursuer, she could enter the thick grass and disappear. She rather take her chances with the creatures hidden inside the field then with the person behind her. She took off.

She didn't have to look back to know he was hot on her heels and coming up on her fast. She could hear his ragged breathes and the pounding of his feet on the ground. If she just made it into the grass, she knew she could just slip away.

Her legs pounded against the ground, her heartbeat pulsed into her ears and she was sucking in air as she pushed her body to run faster and faster. Her muscles screamed at her, a sky person's legs weren't a match for someone who's spent a lifetime on the ground. He was faster then she was and her muscles were already giving up on her.

She just needed a little more time.

She was just about the reach the edge of the tall grass when she saw a line of warriors rise to their feet, revealing their hiding spots within the tall grass. She felt a wave of relief hit her. It had to be Lexa's warriors, they had found her and were here to protect her. But then she took note of their armor. They wore blue and gray instead of the usual greens and browns of the Woods Clan, The symbol some bore on their chests, others bore on their arms, was something Clarke had never seen before.

These weren't Lexa's people.

She felt a dull pain slam against the back of her skull. Her legs gave way and she felt herself falling, falling, falling. Then she saw black.


	2. Meet and Greet

Her mind were encased in a thick cloud. She could sense things, she knew they were there but she couldn't put together a clear thought no matter how hard she tried to reach out and grab them.

The sounds that reached her ears were muffled, like someone was making sounds through an open bottle.

She tried to lift up her hand to ease the throbbing she felt on the back of her skull, but she couldn't move. Panic creeped into the pit of her stomach, her eyes shot open but she was immediately blinded by the brightness of the midday sun. She instinctively tried to reach up to shield her eyes, forgetting that she still couldn't move. She shuffled in a failed attempt to free herself all it did was slam her head back against something hard, she let out a gasping groan.

She took two deep breathes to ease herself from her panicked confusion.

 _Think Clarke._

She remembered the figure chasing her through the field. The warriors with the mysterious silver symbols on their chests. The pain in her head, falling to the ground and now she was here. She had no idea how long she had been out for and how far she had travelled.

 _Where am I?_

She opened her eyes slowly, allowing them to adjust to the harsh light. The sounds had quieted around her. She took another deep breath through her nose, she felt the cold wind biting at her exposed face. She looked down. She was in an awkward sitting position with her legs propped up but she couldn't see what she was sitting on because she was covered in some sort of animal fur. The fur that encased her was gray and covered in dirt but Clarke could tell that it had belonged to an animal that had been completely white. The size of the fur hinted to something that might have been larger than the Pauna Lexa and her had faced a few weeks ago. She was thankful for the fur, even with just her face exposed Clarke could see her hot breaths misting in the air around her. Where ever she was, it was freezing.

From the stiffness she felt in her legs Clarke could only assume she had been strapped down in this position for a while. Which only enhanced her fears that she had been out for a long time and they had travelled very far from that place in the field She had no idea which direction they had headed or how she would find her way back to Camp Jaha.

She looked out at the landscape in front of her, maybe she would see some landmark from her travels with Lexa, something she could recognize, but she only saw a sea of white. They ground around her was completely covered in freshly fallen snow. Had this been any other circumstance Clarke would dare to even call it beautiful. She could see mountains of snow where fallen trees had been, snow had accumulated on the branches of mostly bare trees except the pines which kept hints of white among their still rich green needles.

She had seen pictures of snow during her studies on the Ark. They had watched movies where children raced sleds down slick hills, and threw wadded up balls at each other. They build men out of snow and clothing and went inside to their home to sip hot cocoa and warm up by the fire. But they had none of those things on the Ark and she had never seen fresh snowfall in person. It wasn't something they could fake on the Ark, nor would they with their limited resources. And Clarke doesn't think this was ever something anyone could fake.

"The princess is awake." A voice called out from behind her. Clarke tried to turn her neck enough to find the source. He rounded her until he came into view. He stopped in front of Clarke's sled and knelt down until they were both eye level.

He was in the same gray and blue armor she remembered from the warriors in the field. Except now he also wore a mask covering his face, there was a circle revealing his eyes, cheeks and nose and vertical slits around his mouth. The slits were accented by a circle of teeth that looked to have once belonged to a human. Clarke wondered if he was the only one traveling with her or if his companions where hidden in the woods behind her and out of view. Perhaps they stayed behind to catch more stragglers, waiting for grounders or sky people to go wandering so they can snatch them up and ship them off to where ever they were taking Clarke to.

She wondered if she was meant to become a slave. Lexa has casually mentioned what her grounders did to outsiders or wanderers that entered their lands. Turning them into workers, servants and slaves. They were traded like property and treated worse then that. It was harsh but with Lexa's people a hard-working slave could earn their freedom to become warriors. Several of Lexa's best warriors had been slaves at some point in their lives and had worked to earn their place next to Lexa in battle. The had become respected as one of her own.

Clarke wondered if these people followed the same set of rules. If she would be forced to be a slave, working her fingers to the bone before earning her spot next to the warriors. She wouldn't have to be Clarke of the Sky People anymore. She wouldn't have to lead, or be the one to make the decisions to kill, to hurt or to maime other people. She would be Clarke the Warrior. She would only have to do what she was told to do. She would be killing because she was commanded, she would become the result, not the cause.

The thought of it didn't sound half bad.

She looked up to see a smile coming through the slits of the the man's mask. His crooked and jagged teeth were black and decaying and Clarke had to do everything to keep herself from grimacing away from the sight of it. Clarke's eyes fell to the symbol on his chest. It was the first time she had really gotten an up close look at it and she could finally make out the shapes. It was a silver symbol for a snowflake with a background of spikes, three on each side. She hadn't recognized the symbol among any of the clans in Lexa's alliance but she didn't doubt that they knew of Lexa and her people and that Lexa knew of them. For as mad as she was, she had wished that Lexa was here. She could tell Clarke what to expect, how to act and she could have helped her get out of this mess. Clarke was at a loss, she was trapped, alone and she was traveling further and further away from home in a direction she didn't know.

The man in the toothed mask was still watching her, his head tilted to the side. He had said something that Clarke had missed and now he was turning away from her.

"I asked, if you planned to cooperate." He said. Clarke could hear the anger in his voice. "But if you won't even respond to my questions-."

He reached to a space behind Clarke that couldn't quite see and produced a large wooden spear. It had an uneven handle, making it obvious that someone had just taken a heavy stick and attached a sharpen piece of metal to the tip. but it still looked hefty, powerful and menacing and Clarke knew it could easily deliver a fatal blow.

It was fruitless, she knew it, but Clarke couldn't stop herself from struggling against her bounds. The wood hit against her temple as fast as a whip. She didn't have time to register the pain before she was overcome by the darkness one more time.

-  
She felt her body sway in the air. Her back ached but that was nothing compared to the throbbing she felt in her head. Her brain felt as if it were trapped in a vice, getting squeezed from both the back and the front. Any moment she thought the inside of her head would cave to the pressure and her brain would just pop out of her head. She could feel the dried blood crusted to the side of her left cheek, she knew if she lifted her hand to her left eye brow she would feel a deep cut that probably needed a few stitches. But that was the least of her worries right now.

The swaying stopped and she heard a struggled grunt as her body shifted, a shoulder dug into her stomach. She was thrown over someone's shoulder, she was being carried. She wondered if it was the same captor that was marching her along like this or if it was someone new this time. At least she was out of the cold. Clarke could taste the dampness in the air and knew they were inside some sort of stone structure or cave.

She looked down and watched the boots that carried her as they landed against the uneven stone floor. She felt a wave a nausea overtake her and she shut her eyes once more to steady herself. The headache was becoming too much, she thought she would vomit based on the pain alone. She listened to the echo of the footsteps as they fell against the walls around them and she found it oddly soothing.

She counted the steps.

 _One..._

 _Two..._

 _Three..._

 _Four..._

 _Five..._

She hoped concentrating on something would take her mind of the panic and sickness creeping into her stomach. She knew there was something waiting at the end of the hallway that would determine whether she lived or died. She also knew that she was in no condition to fight whatever decision came her way. She could barely keep her eyes open and her stomach contents down. She was at the mercy at whatever was waiting for her and she hadn't felt this powerless since she was standing outside the entrance of Mount Weather and watching Lexa's back as her and her army made their way down the mountain once they severed their alliance and made a deal with the Mountain.

She kept her body limp, faking sleep for as long as she could manage, maybe she could gain some sort of advantage. Maybe they would throw her into a cell until she woke, maybe they would give her some time to regain her strength before trying to kill her. Maybe someone would just feel bad for her and leave her alone.

She heard the sound of a door creaking on its hinge, she was carried a few more steps.

 _One..._

 _Two..._

 _Three..._

 _Four..._

She was dropped on to the floor. The cold stone was jarring compared to the warm fur on her captors back. She let out a grunt that was somewhere between surprise and pain. Her cover was blown, the plan of faking sleep was now out the window. She pushed herself up to her knees, hoping she would at least be able to stand for a few minutes before toppling over, but she was stopped by a strong hand on her shoulder. Her captor kept his hand there, stopping her from rising any further.

"I don't personally greet all my guests." A voice in front of Clarke spoke.

Clarke raised her head, moving too quickly for her good, a wave of nausea hit her, she shut her eyes and took a deep breath to ease herself again.

"But this felt like again special occasion." The voice added.

Clarke eased her eyes upwards this time. Following up feet that wore nothing but a thick pair of fur socks, up legs and torso covered by a thick layer of brown fur blanket.

Clarke's eyes reached the face of an old woman. As much Lexa's opposite as her throne was. Lexa's Throne was dark, with twisted branched and wood. This woman's throne was lined with blue and white gems that shined even in the dull light of the torches that lined the walls. Behind her back Clarke could make up the top half of a snowflake above her head, Clarke assumed that if the woman stood she would see the rest of the snowflake. Behind that was a line of gray spikes, three on each of the woman's sides. They were made to look like icicles that had been permanently frozen there. The symbol created by the throne looked just like the symbol her captors have been carrying.

Clarke knew she was looking up at their leader.

While Lexa's throne had been simple, yet beautiful, an example of the beautiful things found in nature, this throne was an example of all the beautiful things that could be forged from nature. Clarke knew that gems were hard to come by and even in this world they had to be something very valuable. Having them encased on this throne was a display of power and wealth that Lexa either never had or never cared to display. Lexa's people had valued respect, honor and practicality. These people already seemed very different.

Those weren't the only places where Lexa and this woman differ. These people's leader gray hair mimicked the ice that enveloped her thrown while Lexa's braids had been as brown as the earth she surrounded herself with. While wise beyond her years, Lexa's face never revealed it, her face and skin still revealed the youth of her age but this woman looked every bit as old as she seemed, her face was weathered and wrinkled.

"What makes it so special?" Clarke finally asked when she found the courage to speak.

The older woman in the chair let out a smile. Her teeth were perfect and as white as the snow in the landscape of her land.

"Surely, your dear friend Lexa has spoken of me and my people." The woman said.

A wave of realization hit her and Clarke produced a smile, when she opened her mouth to speak, she did so calmly without displaying any hints of the fear she felt. "You must be The Ice Queen."

 **/***

 **Authors Note: Let me know what you think and if you want me to keep it going. I try to stay a few chapters ahead of the reviews so I can keep them coming fairly regularly if you want them**

 ***/**


	3. Indra

She had never ridden a horse this fast. Part of her was worried that the horse wouldn't be able to keep up with her pace. They were only a few weeks removed from an almost full blown war and her favorite stallion, with his rich coat of chocolate brown and his thick mane of flowing jet black hair, was breathing heavy as they made their way over a small stream and broke out into an open field. Her worry for her stallion couldn't stop Indra from her race. The Commander demanded to know any news of Clarke's whereabouts immediately and she knew her team of scouts were already well on their way to meet up with the Commander's camp still stationed on the outskirts of Tondc.

The Commander had seemed different from that moment she stepped away from Klark kom Skaïkru with that whisper of "May we meet again." The black warpaint and blood was still thick on her face but it did nothing to shield the regret Indra saw in her eyes. It was the best decision, for their people and for their warriors, they rescued them from Mount Weather with minimal bloodshed, the other clan leaders were very pleased. There had been murmured questions of The Commander's strength after she had forged the alliance with the Sky People. Their Commander saw a strength in it that none of the leaders could. There had already been treacherous whispers that had even been spoken to her, it was worrisome.

Part of Indra understood, they had lost hundreds of brothers and sisters in the fire of that cursed dropship. All because of a command that silly blonde leader of the Skaïkru had given. Death and destruction like that can never be forgiven. The Commander was wrong to think the clans could look past that and see whatever value she saw in their alliance.

But Indra still had her orders and she would march with the Commander into the core of the sun if she were ordered to. She knew nothing else but to follow strength and as long as she continued to see the strength in her Commander she would stay by her side. And that was the only reason she rode her horse as hard as she did.

It wasn't for Clarke.

It wasn't for the Sky People.

She knew it was in her best interest to bring Clarke safely home before something terrible happened. She knew the Commander's wrath was a dangerous thing and she knew the Commander had a soft spot for the Sky Commander. She saw the way she looked at Clarke with stolen glances and hidden smiles. She knew it was a dangerous game that she was playing. The Commander was only supposed to pair with the strongest of warriors. There was not strength in the Sky People. They used bullets, and triggers, explosions and fire to gain their victories. They would never overcome one of her own people's warrior trials. They didn't belong in her world and a pairing with Clarke could easily lead to that child's grave.

The Commander had to see that.

Yet the Commander seemed keen on this child. She saw a strength that Indra just couldn't find. Yes, Indra had to admit that she was oddly surprised and impressed when she learned of the fall of Mount Weather at Clarke's own hands. Indra was sure Clarke and the Sky People were left for dead when she followed the rest of her people off that mountain. But Clarke had managed to survive and that alone was a feat. Toppling The Mountain already made her a legend amount the healing captives that were still recovering in Tondc. They had seen the strength and power of Mount Weather from the inside and to them the feat was the work of a god amongst men. They spoke Clarke's name with an admiration usually held for the Commander.

The murmurs of the fall of Mount Weather had been soon confirmed by a visit from the Sky People themselves a couple of weeks after the battle. They had brought most of their leaders including their self-declared Chancellor. She was the Sky Commander's own mother but Indra made note that Clarke did not seem to be with them and she could tell by the worried look on The Commander's face that she noticed as well.

She wished the Commander hadn't been so obvious in her search for Clarke among the visitors as she brought a small force to meet the guests at the entrance to the village still recovering from the destruction of the Mount Weather bombing.

The Chancellor also known as Abigail had demanded the return of her daughter. Indra watched as the Commander's face fell before she hid the worry she carried and responded to Abigail's demand with unwaivered authority. Indra could see frustration in Chancellor's eyes every time she spoke to the Commander.

The Sky People were not used to taking orders from others, and they seemed particularly hesitant to listen to someone as youthful as their own Commander. They knew nothing of respect and authority or of the Commander's power and it made a rage build inside of Indra. She waited for the moment she would receive the order to teach these Sky People some respect. They'd be surprised at how quickly one can learn loyalty with a sword to one's throat.

Her fingers itched at the handle of her sheathed sword at the mere thought of it.

She caught a warning glance from The Commander and relaxed her hand to her side. She hadn't noticed the raised rifles in her direction until she saw them slowly lowered.

After some tense moments Abigail had stomped away with her small crew of guns and leaders. Their backs were barely out of sight when The Commander had summoned Indra and a few others into her tent.

They were going on a scouting mission to find Clarke. She pulled out a map from a pile and traced her hand along several routes along the most prominent rivers in the region. They were to follow the paths to the edge of their terrority and report back any news of Sky Commander's whereabouts.

Indra knew it was a bad idea, and a waste of resources but she, along with the other leaders The Commander had selected, weren't ones to argue an order. And Indra knew her warriors would be more then willing to go on a little scouting mission. They had been stuck at the small village for weeks now helping to tend to the weakest of those that had escaped from Mount Weather and guarding the Commander as she tied up some loose ends left from the fall of the Mountain and waited for her people to be fit enough to make the journey back to Polis.

But Indra knew that The Commander would never be able to leave while the Sky Commander was still missing. And if finding Clarke was what she had to do for their people, then she would find her.

Indra was chosen to lead a small group of four scouts north, she chose four of her fasters and most loyal riders. They were waiting anxiously outside her tent less then an hour later.

They had travelled three days north with no sign or news of Clarke. They had entered a small farming village on the very edge of their land and Indra knew it was going to be the last place they searched before heading back home to Tondc. She had come across a farmer with a young boy who spoke of an attack he witnessed the previous day. He described a petite blonde girl who wore peculiar clothing. He spoke of warriors dressed in gray and blue armor and Indra had gritted her teeth.

She knew that they were too close to the Ice Queen's land for those warriors to belong to anyone but the Ice Queen. She wasn't sure how much the Ice Queen knew of Clarke and the Sky people but Indra was never one to underestimate her cunning and cruelty. She saw first hand the aftermath of what she had done to Costia and how much that had destroyed The Commander. The Ice Queen had been targeting the Commander and her alliances for as long as they have existed and their alliances were not yet strong enough to endure more hardship.

If something happened to Clarke, the Commander would order her warriors to march on the Ice Queen's Palace and blood spilled would be another dagger in the thin ties that help together The alliance of the Twelve Clans.

She kicked her horse as it galloped across the grass. She could see the tall mountains rising up into the clouds ahead of her and knew that the Ice Queen's Palace was still another day's ride away but if she continued to push her horse she could get there in half that time.

But she still didn't have a plan. How did she expect to get into the notoriously well guarded Ice Queen's Palace, sneak out the Sky Commander, and still remain undetected. She pulled up the reigns to her horse and dismounted. She patted him several times. He let out several ragged breathes and leaned his head down to huff at the cold grass in front of him. She let him eat as she considered the mountain up ahead of her.

She needed time to compose herself but all she could think about were all the clocks she was racing against. She had sent the rest of the scouts south to Tondc, they were racing just as fast as Indra was with orders to not stop until they had spoken to the Commander directly with the news of Clarke. She could never lie to her Commander and ordered the scouts to tell her the truth and to also give her the news that Indra had taken it upon herself to bring Clarke home.

She knew that wouldn't stop the Commander from marching a small force north to face the Ice Queen. She knew the Commander still saw the flashes of Costia's mutilated body whenever she thought of the Ice Queen. The Commander would use all her might to prevent what happened to Costia, from happening again.

But Indra would already be marching home with a healthy and fully intact Clarke before The Commander will be able to get her forces north. She already pictured herself walking into Tondc with the stupid Sky Girl marching merrily alongside her.

She just had to get up that mountain and into the Queen's Palace before Clarke could get a real glimpse of the Queen's cruelty. She prayed the Sky Commander was as intelligent as she pretended to be. As long as the Ice Queen saw some use in her, she would keep her alive, and hopefully intact before Indra got there.

The rest was over. Indra jumped up onto her horse and grabbed the reigns.

"Ya". She called and kicked at the horses side and he took off up the mountain in a full gallop.

She only had a few hours to come up with a plan.


	4. Ice Queen

Clarke felt her body sinking into the soft warmth of a mattress. It felt like something out of a dream. It was the throbbing in her head that brought her back to reality. She let out a groan and lifted her hand up to the cut that had been above her eyebrow instead she met the soft wrap of a bandage.

The memory of last night flashed back. The Ice Queen, who she finally had the pleasure of meeting, had made what Clarke would have described as 'small talk'.

When Clarke had realized who she was talking to she had expected to be grilled for hours about Lexa and the Woods Clan.

She remembered what Costia had endured at the hands of this same woman and she had expected to also be tortured for Lexa's secrets and military strategies. But instead she was questioned about her adventures the past few weeks on her own in the wild. She had been asked about the little things that the Sky People did on the Ark, about the food they ate and the books they read. The Ice Queen even asked Clarke her personal opinions about life of the ground. And odder still, The Ice Queen seemed genuinely interested. She asked questions on top of Clarke's stories and stopped her several times to explain devices or environments she didn't quite understand.

Clarke had answered her questions for as long as she could stand, then the Ice Queen sent her to their local healer where the cut above Clarke's eyebrow received a few stitches and the healer handed Clarke a broth in a large mug. It had a strange earthy smell but the healer insisted that it was for the pain in her head and at that point Clarke would have drank glass if someone told her it would have made her feel better. She downed the liquid so quickly that she didn't even get a chance to taste it. And that was okay with her.

She didn't remember falling asleep, or even taking off her boots that she just noticed were neatly placed at the edge of her bed. And she definitely didn't stop to start the fire that was burning in the small fireplace at the end of the room. Not that she wasn't thankful for it though. The night had only gotten colder and Clarke was not properly dressed for this weather. Clarke's people only knew one regulated temperature their entire lives. They never needed anything more or less then what they already had. They knew less of snow. But Clarke knew that even if she was sheltered inside of a structure such as this, she was still susceptible to the cold weather that crept in. And if she shivered even with the fire burning, she was sure it would have been much worse if someone hadn't been feeding that fire while she slept.

She was afraid to leave the comfort of this bed. She hadn't slept on a mattress in several weeks, before the battle of Mount Weather she had been staying in one of the tents Lexa's warriors had lent her, along with a typical grounder warrior's bed which was nothing more then some animal furs. Lexa and her warriors weren't focused very much on comfort and the furs did little to prevent the uneven ground from digging into Clarke's back at night. But THIS bed felt like she was sleeping on a cloud and she just wanted to lay there for hours.

There was a knock on the door that jolted Clarke fully awake. She sat up on her elbow and waited for a guard to come bursting through her cell door. The guard knocked again. And Clarke tilted her head in confusion. You don't usually wait for a prisoner's permission to enter their cell. But then again this was the nicest cell Clarke had ever seen, it was actually nicer then her room had been on the Ark. And much nicer then the plain white room that had locker her in when she was in solitary on The Ark.

"Come in." She finally called out.

She was surprised to see the face of a young woman poking through the door.

"Good morning." She said. The smile on her face didn't meet her sad eyes.

Clarke only nodded in affirmation and waited for the woman to continue speaking.

"The Queen asked us to let you sleep through breakfast." The woman continued. "But she wishes you to join her for lunch in her dining quarters." She said.

"Where are her dining quarters?" Clarke asked.

"I am to take you." The woman said. She gestured her hand to a pile of clothing that Clarke only just noticed sitting in a neat pile on a chair next to her bed. "We left you some more suitable clothing. I'll give you a moment to change and then escort you to her quarters."

Clarke watched the woman shut the door. She listened for the twist of a lock or the click of a bolt but she heard nothing to indicate the woman had locked the door behind her.

Clarke reached over to the chair and grabbed the first item on the pile of cloth and fabric, it was a pair of thick socks rolled up into a tight ball. They would probably come halfway up to Clarke's knees when she finally put them on. Underneath the socks was a long sleeve gray shirt that was made out of a thick fabric Clarke was not familiar with. It seemed like it would be kind of itchy. So she slipped it over her dirty gray t-shirt. She found her black leather jacket slung over the back of the chair. It had kept her warm enough in the chill of the night but it was no match for the bitter cold winter winds so she left it where it was and slipped the thick sweater over her t-shirt. The next article was something she was the most excited about. She recognized the faded denim blue right away. New clothing was hard to come by on The Ark and impossible to come by once they've landed back on the ground.

The 100 had been forced to clean and repair whatever it was that they had left from their days on The Ark and these days they barely had time to focus on anything else but the war with Mount Weather and trying to get their people back alive. The only clothing Clarke had left was wearing thin, there were only so many holes that could be repaired before a t-shirt or pair of pants had to be retired. And Clarke had too many run-ins with knives, guns, dangerous creatures and attempted murders to keep her clothing around for very long.

Besides the fading blue in the denim (which might have been intentional) they looked like they had never been worn. She flipped over the back of the jeans and saw that there was still a marking on the waistband from a company or manufacturer but it had long since faded. She could maybe make out an S and what looked to be like a faded T. She pulled off her black pants and slipped the jeans over her bare legs.

Other than being a little loose around her hips they fit fairly well and Clarke could feel herself almost squeal with excitement as she buttoned them closed. Even the jeans she had worn on the Ark had been hand-me-downs from her mother. She had never worn a pair of brand new jeans before. She couldn't help but smile. Maybe she could negotiate a trade with the Queen and offer her something to let her keep them.

She frowned at the thought, she didn't have anything to offer the Queen for something that had to be so valuable in this world.

Another soft knock came through the door.

"Oh yeah, sorry." Clarke called. She had forgotten about her lunch scheduled with the queen in all her excitement. She slipped off her old crusted cotton socks and started to slip over the thick ones. "I'll be right out."

She stood up and wiggled her toes a bit in the new socks. They were warm but a tad bit thicker than her other pair. Clarke would still have to take some time to get used to that. She slipped her boots over the socks. She had to loosen the laces a bit since the boots fit her more snuggly now.

She flattened the sweater against her stomach and reached for the door. She was surprised to find the door unlocked.

The young woman was bouncing on her feet next to the doorway.

There were windows in this hallway. Something Clarke realized for the first time, wasn't available in her room. Each of the windows was a different color, the first window Clarke came upon was a mixture of blues.

"The Queen has things shipped here from all over." The woman called over her shoulder. "All the things that were plentiful in the old world but aren't really made anymore. These used to be something called stained glass windows. The Queen pieced them back together herself. "

Clarke took another few steps forward and stopped at the next window. This one was all different shades of red. It looked like a mix of different windows pieced together in a rainbow of red. The glasses were held together by thick black lines of some sort of glue. Clarke was too mesmerized to not reach out and touch it. The sunlight bounce off the colored window and engulfed the wall around it in a sparkling sea of reds.

The woman grabbed her hand and pulled her forward.

"Sorry, we're already running late." She said. "But these windows are always here." She said with a smile before she broke out into another run.

Clarke followed her.

They moved quickly down a staircase and through another set of hallways. They took so many turns and ascended so many stairs that Clarke was positive she wouldn't be able to find her way back.

They came to grinding halt in front of a large set of double doors. The doors weren't mates but they matched in the hues of the wood. They both had very intricate patterns that actually flowed rather nicely together. Their differences wouldn't have been so obvious if one door didn't have a circle handle while the other had a regular knob.

The woman knocked quickly before pulling the door open and thrusting Clarke inside. Clarke heard a patter of footsteps after the door had shut and she knew her escort had scurried away.

The Ice Queen was sat at a grand wooden table. Her seat wasn't as intricate as her throne had been but it still was etched with elaborate patterns in the sides of the chair that Clarke could see. The Ice Queen looked up from the cup she had been drinking from and gave Clarke a welcoming smile.

"You must not be much of a morning person." The Ice Queen said. "You slept straight through breakfast, I asked them not to wake you."

Clarke returned the smile. She looked around the room and wasn't sure if she was in a dining room or an old museum. There were elaborate paintings hung on each of the walls. Many of the paintings' frames were spotted with hints of brown rust. Clarke noticed the painting to her right had a large scorch mark in the corner, the frame around it was black with soot. Beyond the marks she could make out a painting of a field with tall yellowing grass and a young women in a rose dress crawling towards what looked like a large farmhouse in the distance.

She couldn't help the gasp that escaped her lips. She stepped closer to the painting to make sure it was real. She had seen the painting a hundred times in the art books she had read on The Ark but she never thought she would get a chance to see any of those paintings in person. She thought they were long gone, lost with the previous world. But she could still see the texture of the paint on the canvas and knew that this just, had to be the original piece.

"You are familiar with 'Christina's World' by Andrew Wyeth?" The Ice Queen said.

Clarke jumped a little. She had completely forgotten that the Ice Queen was even in the room. All she could do was nod. She turned her attention back towards the panting and traced the outline of the young woman in the field.

Clarke had read about this painting in her book on realism in art class. She was disappointed when the art teacher didn't cover this painting in particular. The detail in it had been incredible but what really got Clarke was the sad reality the artist managed to capture with just his use of color and texture. You only see the back of the woman's head, you don't see her face at all but you can see the bones in her arms and you can sense the sickness and weakness in her. You can see the desperation in her grasp with her fist full of grass. Andrew Wyeth had painted this to represent his neighbor who was sick with polio back in the 1940s. It was sad and so incredibly beautiful that it brought Clarke to tears the first time she had seen it.

"The challenge to me was to do justice to her extraordinary conquest of a life which most people would consider hopeless." The Queen said. She was reciting the artist's own words to describe this painting, Clarke had remembered reading them in her books.

Clarke steadied herself and turned to face the Queen. "Are you an art aficionado?" She asked. She took a few steps towards the Queen and sat down in the chair The Queen had gestured towards.

"There's a lot of history that has already been lost." She said. "I like to save what I can."

Clarke looked around the room and realized that 'Christina's World' was the only painting she had recognized. She frowned.

"I have never made it up that fair north myself." The Queen said. "But from what I understand, most of New York City had been destroyed in bombings. It's a miracle that people were even able to salvage that painting." Clarke didn't have to looked over her shoulder to know that she was gesturing towards the 'Christine's World' painting. "It had been on display at one of the museums in the city before everything fell apart."

"How did it make its way down here?" Clarke asked.

The Queen smiled again. "I'm a known collector." She said. "And I'm also known to reward those that bring me what I want."

"Is that also how you managed to dig up these jeans?" Clarke asked. She tugged at the fabric on her leg.

The Queen gave a knowing smile. "It's really surprising how such simple things become so engraved in our history. A child's toy, a book, a piece of clothing."

Clarke was starting to feel uncomfortable. She shifted in her seat. If she was wearing something the Ice Queen cherished so much then she was sure to ruin it, especially given her track record with clothes. The Ice Queen seemed to read her mind.

"Oh don't worry, I have rooms filled with clothes and piles of jeans, those-" She gestured to the fabric on Clarke's legs. "Are a gift." She said.

"Plus." The Ice Queen added with a smile. "Some of my people have been hard at work producing jeans of our own and we're very close to developing a system that let's us produce more than three pairs a month."

Clarke was shocked. Most of the grounders she had come across had concentrated on methods of survival. Lexa's people focused on war, the people of Mount Weather used their medical knowledge to fight to escape their bunker but the Ice Queen's people focused on such luxuries as clothing?

Clarke opened her mouth to ask a question and the words seemed to just tumble out. "How do you find the time when-"

"When there's so much killing?" The Queen finished.

"The foul weather up here is more a gift then a curse to my people, it's a natural defense from the violence that happens down below. No one dares march on us because those that have tried in the past have died of frostbite before their forces even reached the gate." The queen said.

It was clever. Clarke couldn't deny it and she would admit that she was a tad jealous. They had a break from all the death and violence, the Ice Queen's people seemed truly free from the destruction in the world.

"You and your people have suffered a very different fate." The Ice Queen's voice had taken on a mother's tenderness.

"You seem to know a lot about me." Clarke said.

She heard the door open and saw a wave of young women enter the room, each was carrying different shaped dishes and platters. They passed by them in a wave and before Clarke realized it a table was set with napkins, fine china and more forks then Clarke knew what to do with. In front of them was a feast featuring a roasted bird, plates loaded with foods of various colors and shapes, Clarke spotted mashed potatoes, roasted peppers and carrots and even some dishes she had never eaten before. She waited for other people to sit at the table but when the last woman closed the door, Clarke was still left alone with the Queen.

"Expecting someone?" The Queen said with a bemused smile. She put a helping of mashed potatoes on her own plate before holding out the bowl to Clarke.

"Thanks." She muttered before she placed the bowl down next to her own plate. "This just seems like a lot of food for two people."

"Are you calling me wasteful?" The Queen asked.

Clarke's heart jumped into her throat. "No, No." She did her best to try and back track before she ruined the Queens generosity and got herself killed. "I just thought -"

The Queen held up her hand and Clarke stopped in her tracks. Clarke was relieved to see a smile on her face.

"My girls eat whatever is left over." The Ice Queen said. She grabbed a piece of meat and placed it on her own plate. "And they may look small but they can really eat. The last thing we have to worry about here is food going to waste. And they make much more of this to feed my warriors. No one here goes hungry. So please...eat."

Clarke let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding in. She took a forkful of food and bit into the greatest tasting mashed potatoes she had ever had.

Or maybe she just had been that hungry. She just couldn't tell.

She thought again about what Lexa had told her about The Ice Queen and her kidnapping of Costia. She didn't think that Lexa could possibly have been talking about the same person she is sitting across from right now. She just seemed so kind and geniuine. They shared an interest in art she was more cultured and civilized than then person Lexa had described. She sat at a table with a napkin folded across her lamp and had a fork for each course, even if they were only eating just one. Her people slept in comfortable beds with fireplaces and blankets. They had a supply of artifacts and clothing from the old world and tried to cling onto their old ways. They already seemed so much more peaceful and cultured then the grounders.

She thought about the meal she had on Mount Weather when Jasper and Monty were raving about the desserts and how she had spoiled their fun thinking about how this was all too good to be true. And she was right. The people of Mount Weather were generally peaceful but their leaders had tried to kill all of Clarke's in an attempt to be able to walk on the ground again without being poisoned by the air. Everything had seemed so perfect at first glance but it had all been a lie.

And Clarke was falling for it just like Monty and Jasper had fallen for Mount Weather.

"Something on your mind?" The Ice Queen said.

Clarke jabbed at the mashed potatoes with her fork. She had suddenly lost her appetite. The fabric on her legs suddenly felt tight and constricting.

"If I wanted to kill you I would had done it already." The Ice Queen said.

Clarke looked up to see calm and controlled eyes. She didn't doubt that the Ice Queen spoke the truth. Her people could have killed her out on the field instead of shipping her all the way up here, they could have killed her while she slept or slit her throat while she stood in front of the Ice Queen last night, she was weakened and defenseless, she would have been easy to kill. No. She obviously had another plan in mind. She had something hidden up her sleeve and Clarke knew she had to be a key part of her plan or she wouldn't be alive.

"But I don't want you dead." The Ice Queen cut a piece of meat as she spoke, she stuck it into her mouth and chewed calmly before swallowing. Leaving Clarke at the edge of her seat as she waited for an explanation. "No. Your people and my people are a lot alike." She said. "We both try to cling to the civilization of the past while trying to survive in this future, no matter how impossible that may seem. And I think we can help each other."

Clarke kept her eyes fixated on the Ice Queen as she spoke.

"Your people are very lucky that you are so resourceful, your actions are the only reason they are still able to thrive at Camp Jaha." The Ice Queen said.

"How do you know all this?" Clarke asked.

The Ice Queen's mouth lifted up in a smile. "I have allies everywhere, Clarke of the Sky People." The Ice Queen went back to cutting her roasted meat. "And I would like to add a few more to that list."

Clarke frowned, she looked down at her still full plate.

"Think about all I could offer your people." She said. "There's a harsh winter coming, we could shelter them here or I could simply provide them enough support to make it though the cold... give them clothing, food. We could open a trade network, my people can educate yours about the land and you can educate mine about technology."

"And what about the 12 Clans?" Clarke asked.

"What about the 12 Clans, Clarke?" The Ice Queen's voice rose for the first time. "What do you owe them? They betrayed you. Yet you still seem loyal to them."

"Is that why you want an alliance with the Sky People?" Clarke spoke calmly. Trying to keep what little authority over the conversation. "You have no use for the other Grounders, not like the people of Mount Weather did. If you could learn how to use Mount Weather weapons, you could rain down destruction."

The Ice Queen's mouth lifted upwards into a tight smile. "You misunderstand my intentions. We are a peaceful people. We don't want death and violence, we simply want peace. The mere threat of strength is enough to keep the Lexa and the 12 Clans at peace."

"I thought the weather was enough to keep the invaders away?" Clarke countered.

The queen took a steadying breath. "The snow melts, and when it does my people are vulnerable again, I'd like to have something else, to force the 12 Clans into peace. It's the only way my people will be able to travel without fear of attack."

Clarke thought again of the death she had caused in Mount Weather, she thought of the bomb that had fallen on Tondc and the rubble that was left behind where people had spent their entire lives. She was sick of the death that seemed to follow her, the death that her own hands and fingers seemed to cause and she wasn't going to be a part of any more of it. According to Lexa she had only seen small villages that were part of the Lexa's rule, she had no idea how many people were under her rule. It could be hundred. It could be thousands. For all she knew it could be millions and she just couldn't put power of destruction into someone else's hand. Not when she knew they had full intentions of using it.

"I'm not protecting them." Clarke said. "I'm protecting life."

"I'm not asking for a war pact. " The Ice Queen said. "Just a formal friendship."

Clarke met the Queens clear blue eyes and sensed well intentions there.

"You cannot deny that we want the same things Clarke. I can see it in your eyes. You hate war just as much as I do." The Ice Queen said. She reached across the table and squeezed Clarke's wrist. "Just think about it." She said.

She released her grip and pulled back, she lifted her fork and knife back up. "But for now..." She met Clarke's eyes. "We enjoy this delicious feast I have prepared."

Clarke followed the ice Queens lead and grabbed her fork and knife. Just as she took her first bite the door burst in and a warrior marched in. He wore light gray armor and had several sashes across his chest which hinted towards a position of authority. He eyed Clarke as he marched over to the Queen and leaned down to whisper something in her ear.

Clarke tried to concentrate on her food but she couldn't help herself, she glanced up every few moments to read the expression on the Queens face. She seemed concerned at first but then a smile crossed her lips as the warrior straightened up his back and left the dinning room. The Queen spoke nothing of it and just continued to eat, so Clarke ate too.

/* Don't forget to Leave a Review! */


	5. To The Rescue

The path to the Ice Queen's Palace was clear but Indra had diverted from it a long time ago. She left her stallion tied up and covered next to a clearing at the edge of the woods. There, he would remain hidden from any of the Queen's patrols but still be easily accessible when she made her escape with the Sky Commander.

Indra moved at a frustratingly slow pace. She wasn't as experienced traveling in the snowy terrain as her enemies were sure to be but she knew the thick layers of white hid many traps, both those created by nature and those created by man and she wanted each of her steps to be safe and sure.

She had walked several hours before she saw the large stone walls that she knew to belong to the Ice Queen's Palace. She stopped to take in the sight. The walls had to be twenty feet straight up with no windows or breaks. She hadn't seen a defensive structure so intact since Mount Weather but that had been built underground. Here, in the open, she could really see the vastness of it. The stone walls stretched out as far as her eyes could see in both directions.

She knew the path she had followed still remained to her right and most likely lead up to the main entrance of the palace. It was guaranteed to be heavily guarded and, since Indra didn't expect to be the most welcomed of guests, she decided to go left and follow the wall hoping for some stroke of luck and find a point of weakness or easy path to gain access.

She stuck to the cover of the woods as she made her way around the backside of the palace. She walked for what felt like miles before she came across an unnatural looking rise in the snowy terrain. It was a small cylinder shaped hill covered in freshly fallen snow and earth.

She felt hope bubble up in her chest. They had once led an attack against a fortress in the south. It's defenses were similar to this palace with long stretching walls made of decaying but heavily defended wood. The Commander knew that marching her soldiers armed with rams and fire would easily bring down their enemy's defenses, but it would leave heavy casualties when arrows rained down from the guards on the walls. Instead, the Commander sent scouts to search for other entrances along the wall and one party came back and spoke of a pipe hidden in the soil .

The pipe was a wastewater drainage from the old sewers used by the fortress. The Commander accompanied a small force to snake through the pipes in the cover of darkness and take the fortress from the inside out. She had the rest of her warriors light torches and stand just outside of the archers arrows but still visible to the enemy scouts. While the enemies were distracted watching the flames of the torches dance in the distant darkness, the Commander led a small force through the pipe and caught the guards with their backs still turned. They had taken the walls and opened the gate before the sun broke through the horizon. Of the thirty men the Commander had led through the pipe they had lost only three with five more injured. The fortress had been hundreds strong but it was lost with minimal sacrifices from the 12 Clans. Further proof of the new Commander's strength and wisdom.

Indra knew that this pipe hidden under the snow was her way in. Only this time she knew there were a lot more warriors inside and she didn't have reinforcements on the outskirts. If things went badly she was on her own and most likely, she'd be dead before the Commander even knew of her mission.

It was the middle of the daylight hours but she didn't have time to wait for the cover of darkness. The Sky Commander could already have been tortured and might be prepped to have her head cut off at any moment.

Indra was wasting precious in the snow.

She could hear the faint sound of rushing water and followed it until she came to the end of the large drainage pipe. Around the opening of the pipe the snow had melted around a foul smelling brown stream that was flowing down the side of the mountain. The large pipe was covered with a thick metal grate that allowed the discolored liquid to seep out past an accumulation of leaves and trash that were too large to pass through the small holes of the grate cover.

Jagged rusted edges of the pipe broke away from years of flowing water. The metal grate didn't look to be in much better condition. Indra positioned her hands on either end of the rusted metal, threading her fingers through the small holes, she ignored the wet slime that coated her fingers. Indra pulled with all her might. She heard the metal groan and crack from the strain but nothing gave way. She let out a huff and released the metal. Indra sat down in the foul liquid, she cursed the Sky Commander with each splash, and used her feet at leverage on either side of the pipe, she fitted her fingers tightly around the grate once again. She ignored the way the rusted metal dug into her hands and with a heavy breath she pulled with all the strength in her arms.

The metal near the top corner bowed and then broke away from the pipe's edge with a loud crack that echoed off the sides of the pipe. Indra hoped it was only loud to her and didn't attract any attention, she stopped only for a moment to listen for the sound of curious voices, when she heard nothing she continued to pull the corner of the grate away from the edge until she pulled enough away that she had a hole big enough to slip through.

She unsheathed her sword and passed it through the opening, dropping it into the liquid before she took a deep breath, she sucked in her stomach and pulled herself through. Indra could feel the sharp metal ripping into her clothing and skin before she finally managed to fit her entire body through the pipe. She fell into the wretched liquid with a splash louder than she cared to make.

She paused again and waited to hear any voices from alarmed guards or patrols but smiled at herself when she heard nothing.

She trudged through the liquid trying her best to ignore the smells wafting into her nostrils, she moved slower than she wished, careful to not make sounds that would attract attention.

The pipe traveled a long ways into the heart of the castle, her arms were shaking from exhaustion before she finally saw a faint orange glow at the end of a small opening.

As she came upon it she realized it was her only exit, the pipe narrowed before splitting up and moving in different directions into the castle. There was no way Indra would be able to continue on in any of them.

When she reached the edge of the opening and poked her head out. She was relieved to find shadows and darkness, the orange glow had come from a small torch that hung on the far wall. To her relief, she seemed to be in some sort of abandoned room in the depths of the palace.

She placed her sword at the edge of the clearing and slowly pulled herself up on to the floor. The cold stone was chilling to her soaked legs but still, she was relieved to be out of that foulness.

She clipped her sword back onto her belt and unsheathed it as she made her way to the first corner. She looked down a long hallway, lit only by rows of small torches. She saw no far off shadows and heard no footsteps so she continued down the hallway, hugging the wall for cover and holding her sword up, ready to strike out at anyone that threatened her mission.

She came across a steep stairwell that was lit with the while glow of sunlight, she turned her head hopelessly back to the shadowed hallway, she felt comfort in the darkness but knew that this had to be the most likely path she had to follow to find the Sky Commander, so she slowly ascended the stairs, more careful now that she was about to be exposed in the light of the sun. She rose her sword higher with each step.

She found the hallway at the top of the stairs empty. Still Indra remained cautious, she hugged the farthest wall as she rounded the next corner, still finding nothing but colored light. When she noticed the coast was clear she took a moment to observe the colored light. The sun shone through windows of different colors and lit up the hallway in hues of red, blue and green. Indra had never seen the sunlight transformed like this and she was momentarily mesmerized before she heard the sounds of footsteps and voices echoing off the stone hallway. She poked her head around the nearest corner where she saw two distant bodies making their way towards her. They talked casually as they walked down the hall. Indra hid herself in the dark cover of a deep doorway and listened carefully as the steps approached her.

Their voices turned from echoes to sounds and finally to words with each step and Indra realized that they spoke english as they inched closer. She rose her sword, ready to attack and froze when she heard one of them mention the Sky Commander.

"It was like tracking a wounded animal. Those sky people are clumsy." One warrior said as they passed by Indra's hiding spot in the shadows. "I don't see what use an alliance with them will be against the 12 Clans. They'll be more likely to get us killed in battle."

The other warrior shrugged. "I don't think the Queen expects them to be of much use in hand-to-hand combat. But you hear of the destruction those bombs from Mount Weather could cause. And the Sky People are the only one's left that know how to use them. We could leave more towns in ash like that useless Woods Clan village."

Indra felt a rage bubble inside her, she stepped from the shadows and plunged her sword deep into the back of the warrior that spoke. She threaded the opening between his armor and skin, Indra plunged it straight through his heart. He crumbled to the ground taking Indra's sword with him.

Indra pulled her dagger from her waistband and slashed across the other soldier's throat as he turned to face her. He fell to the ground clutching his neck, despite his efforts to cover the wound, his blood flowed, filling the cracks in the stones with a river of red.

He had fallen into the red light of one of the colored windows and it made his whole body seem seeped in red, and it may as well have been, the fallen warrior let out one last breath and breathed no more.

Indra heard a crash of glass and metal behind her and turned to find a young woman standing at the corner, both her hands covering her mouth and the serving tray she had been carrying crashed to the ground leaving a mess of water and glass on the stone beneath her.

The servant turned and ran.

Indra gave pursuit.

Her sword was still buried in her latest kill but she still had her blood soaked dagger clutched in her right hand as she ran after the woman.

"Intruder!" The woman screamed. Her screech was deafening as it echoed off the walls of the hallways.

The woman screamed one more time before she tripped over her own feet and feel hard on the stone. Indra was on top of her before she could react. Indra flipped her roughly, she lifted her dagger to the woman's throat. Indra locked with the innocent blue eyes of a young woman.

Indra could already see blood pooling around a gash on her upper lip. That same lip trembled in fear. This was no warrior, this was just a young servant girl.

Indra had prepared herself for a palace full of warriors and leaders. She hadn't thought about the innocent workers that roamed the walls or planned what she would do if she came across one of them.

She could see tears trickling down the young woman's cheeks. The young woman's eyes closed as she prepared herself for the killing blow.

But Indra didn't do it.

She couldn't do it.

Indra thought about that sky boy that had murdered eighteen of her people in cold blood. Indra was nothing like him. She fought and killed warriors, not children, not innocents. She lowered her knife and took several steps back, the young woman's eyes drifted open and her wide eyes fell on Indra. Indra felt the cold wall against the exposed portions of her back.

There was a shout from down the hall and Indra cursed under her breath when she saw three warriors sprinting towards them. She heard the familiar sound of swords being pulled from their sheaths. But she didn't wait to see what those weapons looked like, she took off in the other direction before she spotted four more rounding the corner, their weapons drawn as well.

She back pedaled slowly as she contemplated an escape route. She shifted her glaze back towards the other hallway only to see that their numbers had doubled.

She was trapped.

Under normal circumstances she would have fought until death but her mission was reliant on her survival. Surrender and eventual escape was her only option. She stood tall and dropped her dagger to the ground. The warriors leapt forward before she could change her mind. Several pressed the tips of their sword against her neck while others bound her hands behind her back.

The young woman watched the scene in awe as Indra was pulled away and finally led down the hallway in a hail of noise and chaos.

 **/* Author's Note: Thanks to everyone for your reviews and comments. I really do appreciate it! Keep them coming */**


	6. Books

Clarke had been cooped up in the room ever since her lunch with the Ice Queen. After the warrior had whispered into Queen's ear, she had quickly finished the meal and ushered Clarke away. She knew something had happened and she knew the Queen was hiding it from her.

That made being locked away in this room even worse. Clarke wanted to know what news had brought such a smile to the Queen's face.

The fact that her door wasn't even locked tortured Clarke even more. Instead of locking her away the Ice Queen had stationed the small sheepish servant woman outside Clarke's door.

The few times Clarke tried to sneak out, the woman was there to block Clarke's exit with a shy smile. The young woman stared at the ground when she told Clarke she had to remain in her room and was quick to offer her service to fetch whatever it was Clarke desired. She was loyal to the Queen's orders, Clarke could see that much and knew that driving her away wasn't going to be easy.

The young servant woman gave Clarke no hints about the matter the Queen was dealing with or why Clarke had to be confined to this room. The young woman said something vague about important meetings and dangerous enemies but failed to elaborate even when Clarke asked. Clarke was sure the young woman didn't know much more than she did, even if she did want to tell Clarke about it.

So Clarke was left counting the bricks on her wall for a few hours before she poked her head out the door and found the Queen's loyal servant standing at attention.

"Sorry you-" The young woman started as she jumped to her feet and blocked Clarke's exit once again.

"I can't leave the room. I know. I know. " Clarke finished. "I was actually wondering if you could bring me something to do?"

The woman studied Clarke's mouth and waited for her to elaborate further.

"Like maybe some books to read?" Clarke hinted.

"Oh, yes!" The woman said. "What kinds would you like?"

Clarke thought. She hadn't had much time to read since she landed on the dropship, besides drawing, reading had been one of her favorite things to do during her free time on The Ark. Ignoring the current circumstances, she almost welcomed the idle time to start reading again.

"What kinds do you have?" Clarke asked.

"Oh, all kinds! We have a huge library in the cellar. The Queen has recovered many old world books." The young woman said.

Clarke felt her eyes widened. The library on The Ark barely had enough books to be called that. They didn't have much room to spare for such things and most of the books they had were digitized. She could easily read them on the computer panel in her room but she prefered the feeling of the pages between her fingers. She would spend hours at the Ark Library just reading the few books they did have.

"History." Clarke said. "or maybe art."

The woman nodded. "I'll get somene to get those to you as soon as possible. " She said. She looked down the hallway and waved, Clarke followed her glance to see a figure making her way towards them.

When the older woman finally reached them, the younger servant relayed Clarke's request to her and sent her down to the library. As she spoke Clarke noticed a fresh swollen cut on her lip for the first time.

"Thanks." Clarke said.

The woman nodded again. She turned to return to her station next to the door.

"Do you think-" Clarke started.

The woman snapped back to attention, she turned to face Clarke again.

"When I'm allowed to leave this room again." She said. "Do you think I'd be able to see the library?"

The woman thought for a moment before she spoke.

"I don't think that'll be a problem. I've brought other-" The words danced at the tip of the young woman's tongue. She looked down at the floor and balanced herself on the tips of her feet, swaying nervously. There was a forced sad smile on her face when she looked back up at Clarke. Sure."

Clarke swallowed, she could feel something heavy hanging in the air between them but she couldn't quite place it. Clarke thanked the young woman before shutting the door and laying back down on the bed.

Clarke spent a while trying to make sense of the interaction she just had. She was thankful when an older woman arrived shortly after with an armful of thick volumes that she dropped on the table next to Clarke's bed, she exited before Clarke could thank her.

Clarke immediately grabbed the first volume off the pile. She could tell that these books hadn't been read in a long time, each had a thick layer of dust still covering them. She blew off the dust before crossing her legs, leaning back against the wall and opening the first book.

It was an educational textbook of American history class. The text was full of pictures, some were depictions of scenes from older wars or color coded maps of countries, others were photographs of artifacts in museums or portraits of the people the history book spoke of. The book showed it's age in it's yellowed pages and in it's captions that spoke of long destroyed museums in the present tense.

She had learned about American History on The Ark and had read numerous books on all of America's wars, the one's both at home and in foreign countries, but the pictures in this book were some of her favorite. Clarke loved seeing anything that depicted the world before everything fell apart. She liked to know what everyone else did before they had to launch ships into the sky and scramble to bunkers built into the Mountain, just to survive.

Most artists in the past seemed fascinated by the planet they had neglected so much. They painted birds and trees or rivers and landscapes, and while those paintings were always very beautiful, Clarke found that she prefered to see the pictures of cities and factories or of trains and automobiles or even of planes taking off into the sky.

She wondered if they'd ever get there again or if they'd keep fighting and killing each other until there was no one left and the world turned over to the animals of the forest. Maybe the world would be better off that way. All humans seemed to be good for was war, and destruction..

Were they always going to be stuck in this fight to live or die mode?

Clarke had already been on this planet for such a sort time and she was already so tired of it. She had spent such a short time down on the ground, but she felt as though all she had done was watch her friends kill or die. She had her hands covered with the blood of a boy she thought she could love, all because he murdered 13 innocent people.

And he had done it all for her.

Maybe Finn wasn't cut out for this life. Then again, Who was? This world was savage and angry. How long before her eyes became as empty as the prisoners in this photo? How many horrors did she have to witness? She slammed the book shut and threw it across the room. It landed with a clunk on the floor in front of the fireplace. She laid her head back down on her pillow and stared up at the wall.

But she felt a sense of hope in this seemed to be civilized here. They had Libraries and decorated their walls with old art. They lived in a place naturally shielded from the violence out there and the idea of peace seemed like paradise to Clarke. She could sleep in a bed and not rise early to look over maps or plan an attack. She wouldn't have to order her friends to kill or watch as another of her friends fell victim to this deadly world.

She felt her mind drift off at sounds of her friends' lighthearted laughter playing in her head. It was a sound she hadn't heard in the longest time.

Clarke startled awake. She hadn't even realized she had fallen asleep.

Three soft knocks echoed on her door. Clarke wiped the sleep from her eyes, she sat up and planted her feet down on the soft fur rug at the edge of her bed.

"Yes?" Clarke said.

The door opened and the young woman poked her head through the crack in the door.

"My apologies." The young woman whispered as though she could wake Clarke again. "I didn't realize you were asleep."

Clarke stood up. "Don't worry about it." She looked down at the woman's hands expecting to find something there, maybe dinner or some water or even more books. But there was nothing. Clarke's glaze drifted back up towards the woman's eyes. "Did you need something?."

The young woman smiled. "The Queen has finally released your hold. You're free to move about the castle." She said. "I thought it would make now a good time to show you our library."

Clarke was already putting on her boots.

"Yes, please!" Clarke slipped on her boots on without tying them and stood up.

"Wait. " Clarke called out just as the woman was reaching for the door. "What's your name?"

The woman looked up with her hand still on the black metal handle.

Clarke could see the look of confusion in her eyes. It seemed like a simple question but Clarke could sense the hesitation and wondered if she had done something insulting by simply asking her name.

"Shawna." the woman responded in a soft whisper that Clarke barely registered.

"It's nice to meet you, Shawna. " Clarke said. She gave Shawn what felt like a soft smile. She was relieved when Shawna responded in kind.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Clarke of the Sky People." Shawna said.

She pulled open the door and silently lead Clarke down the same hall they had been down earlier. The hallway that had been filled with light and hue of colors now lay in just the faint orange glow of torchlight. She must have slept a lot longer than she had realized, night had fallen over the palace and left the bright hallway in a mute darkness.

Her boot scraped against something that scratched against the stone. Clarke looked down, she found a thick piece of ivory colored glass on the stone floor. She knelt down and carefully picked it up to inspect it. It looked jagged in several areas and had a small flower decoration on one side.

"Sorry about that." Shawna said. "I dropped some mugs before, when..."

She snatched the shard before Clarke could react and stashed it in one of her pockets.

"I thought I cleaned it all up, I must have missed this. " Shawna said. "The library is just down here."

She turned down a strange new hallway and lead Clarke to a set of stairs that descended to into a faint darkness. Clarke could barely see where her feet were landing in the dark stairwell.

Shawna lead her down a narrow hallway that was lined with doors. Across every door was a small torch that guided the way. Shawna stopped in front of the third torch.

There she stood in front of a large wooden door with a thick black device that looked more like a bar than a handle. With a heave, Shawna pulled open the door and ushered Clarke inside. Clarke lead the way into the dark room, Shawna followed holding the torch from the wall. She left Clarke at the opening of the door and began to light the torches around the room. She could hear Shawna's footsteps echoing as she traveled around the room. Slowly it began to fill with light and Clarke began to take in the massive room shelf by shelf.

She had never seen so many books in her entire life. The makeshift shelves lined the wall and some shelves bowed under the weight of the books. The rows of shelves went on before they faded into the shadows. Shawna returned after a couple of minutes and hung the torch on the wall next to the door.

She could hear Shawna laugh a little at Clarke's reaction when she returned.

"I lit up the history section for you." Shawna said. "If you want another section let me know I can light those torches as well."

"All that-" Clarke counted seven rows in the glow of the torches. "-is just one section?"

"Yes." Shawna answered.

Clarke stepped forward. She felt utterly overwhelmed. She was pretty sure there were going to be more books in their library then the entire catalogue they had in the Ark's database. Her foot caught on something and she stumbled forward.

That's when she noticed the table in the center of the room. Even in the dark she could see that it was already covered with a small pile of books.

"Here. " Shawna stepped forward and pulled something off the table. "I can get that for you." She called.

Shawna moved closer to the torch by the door and that's when Clarke saw that she was holding a candle that was attached to some sort of silver holder. Shawna used the torch to light the flame and returned to light the rest of the candles on the table.

Clarke could see the array of books covered in a thin layer of dust. One of the books seemed to be propped open as if the reader had left in the middle of a paragraph and had yet to return. She rounded what she had tripped on, a short wooden chair and looked at the open page of the book. Through the dust she could make out a full page picture of blurry greens and shadows. She lifted the book to bring it closer to the light when she noticed a rogue piece of folded paper sticking out just slightly.

Clarke flipped to the page and found a small envelope that had faded to yellow with time. There was large writing on the front in a neat, flowing cursive. Clarke's mother had written Clarke's birthday cards in cursive. She wanted it to seem fancier than her regular handwriting, Clarke had assumed. But she could barely recognize her mother's print and she always needed her mom to translate her cursive. But this handwriting had addressed the letter to four very distinct letters that Clarke recognized in an instant

 ** _Lexa_**

 ** _/* Author's note: Thanks for all your follows and reviews. I still am a few chapters ahead but have been a little busy and haven't been able to post regular updates so sorry for the delay! Love hearing what you guys think don't forget to leave a review! */_**


	7. Heda's Tent

Lexa had always held open court with her warriors and clan members since she came to power. Hearing the wishes of her people helped her weigh her decisions and make sure she helped all her people the best way she could. She held court under the largest of the Heda's tents since the day after the fall of Mount Weather and if she could speak true she was heavily distracted with thoughts of Clarke and her whereabouts, even when her people were speaking of their own heavy hearts and worries.

It wasn't like her to just nod along to the words of her people. Everyone from the smallest of farmers to the highest of clan leaders were valued and worthy of her time but she couldn't help her thoughts from drifting to images of Clarke's lifeless body strapped across the back of one of her scout's horses.

She pulled herself back to the present and tried for the hundredth time to rip the thought from her mind. Clarke was strong and smart. She could survive out there on her own. She had done it before, she would do it again.

She had to.

A tall figure stepped into Lexa's tent and she felt her back stiffen. It was Quindle, the eldest son of Quint. Quint had died in the forest long before the battle on Mount Weather, his family's hatred of Clarke and the Sky People was very clearly spoken during the war meeting with all the clan leaders. Lexa welcomed her warriors and leaders to speak their true thoughts, within reason.

She did not permit murder.

When Quint killed Clarke's guard and chased Clarke through the forest with the intent to kill, he had committed an act of treason. Clarke was an ally of the clan and a guest. An attrack on her was an act of betrayal on Heda herself and a crime punishable by death.

Quindle should have understood this. However the contempt in his eyes as he marched into the tent seemed to indicate that he felt differently. If the words Quint had spoken were true then Quindle had lost his own uncle in the fires of Clarke's dropship counterattack. Lexa had lost three hundred of her strongest warriors in that attack but she couldn't blame Clarke. It was a clever defense and done during a time of war and her people knew that there were few rules when it came to war.

Quindle stood in front of his Heda's wood throne and bowed his head just slightly in the required sign of respect.

"Heda." He said with only the slightest hint of disdain he dared to speak.

"Quindle, I assume my messenger has spoken clearly of the crimes of your father? He served loyally for most of his life, I would hate to revisit the short blemish on his valiant life." Lexa said.

Quindle shook his head before he spoke. "I have not come here to speak of my father. I come here to discuss the alliance with the Sky People." he said.

"That alliance died on Mount Weather. " Lexa said.

She thought again of the look on Clarke's face when she turned her back and headed out with her army, leaving Clarke alone with the weight of her entire people on her shoulders.

"Yet, you send scouts out to locate their missing commander. " he countered.

Lexa studied him for a moment as she pondered her response. While many of the clan leaders seemed hesitant of the idea of an alliance, she still valued her the Sky People, especially now that they understood the strength of technology and the damage it could case. As evident in the destruction rained down on Tondc. With Mount Weather defeated there was a functioning military base that was just up for the taking. And the Sky People knew how to harness it's power.

Clarke was a key proponent to the alliance. They needed her alive if they had any chance of keeping it.

That's what she kept telling herself anyway.

Lexa had her own personal reasons to send out her scouts but that didn't matter. Saving Clarke was the best action for her people, and that was all that mattered, she could sort out the rest laster.

"It is wise to keep the Sky People close." Lexa said. "They hold knowledge of the technology buried within the Mountain."

"Why not eliminate them all." He spat as he spoke. "They are weak and wounded. They've already played their hand, you know they are without their strongest commander."

"You speak from a place of anger." Lexa said stiffly. "They may be weak of body but they possess weapons that can kill with the simple flick of a wrist or pull of a finger. We would incur heavy losses even in victory."

He regarded her for a moment.

"Your decisions are tainted by your affection for the Sky Commander." he hissed.

Lexa was on her feet in an instant. She jumped down from her throne and was face to face with Quindle in three long strides.

"I will defend my lands as I see fit and I will not take lightly to warriors questioning my dedication to my people." Lexa stepped closer as the words spat out of her mouth. She felt her whole body warm as blood flowed to her extremities, as it always did before a fight. It only took a few more steps before they were nose to nose.

Lexa knew she was alone in the tent. Her guards stood outside the entrance to the tent flaps, she knew a mere shout would get their attention but if she were honest, she hoped it ended quickly and quietly, she wanted to handle Quindle herself. This warrior would be on his knees before he thought to draw his weapon, if he even had time to think of it.

"Hed-" an excited chorus of shouts came from tent's entrance but the excitement died when they caught sight of the Commander and the warrior. She could see several bodies out of the corner of her eye but it wasn't until Quince lowered his gaze and took several steps back that she finally turned to greet her new guests.

She looked towards the group at the door and recognized them as the group of scouts that had gone north with Indra. She immediately noticed Indra's absence and grew worried.

"Is Indra wounded?" Lexa said trying her best to keep her tone even, if something was wrong she needed to remain calm for her warriors.

"No, Heda." The scout in the back said. "We have learned of the Sky Commander's whereabouts."

A faint smile crossed her lips. But she was weary of feeling relieved. She would not dare feel that Clarke was safe until she stood in front of her. She looked over to Quindle and nodded him out of the tent. He glared at her and for a moment Lexa had expected some reluctance from the young warrior but he huffed and stepped past the group of scouts and slapped his way past the tent flaps.

The scouts hesitated for a moment as they watched him leave and then turned their attention back to Lexa who had already headed back to her throne and seated herself in front of the thick twisted branches. The scouts came forward, each of then bowing in respect before waiting do be addressed.

"Speak true." Lexa commanded and one of the scouts started to talk.

He spoke of their last village of the journey, of the Ice Queen's warriors capturing Clarke. Lexa gripped the armrests of her throne so hard her knuckles turned white. She felt an edge of fury overtake her when the scout spoke of Indra taking it upon herself to infiltrate the Queen's Palace and return Clarke safely. Indra had never been inside the Ice Queen's Palace , there were very few numbered among her warriors that had entered the palace and walked out with their heads. The few that did live only did so because they were of use to the Ice Queen. Those that did survive were used to haunt Lexa with the details of Costia's final days on this planet and to speak of the horrors of Costia's torture.

She knew the Ice Queen would keep Clarke alive as long as she saw use in her and she knew Clarke was clever enough to see that but part of her worried if Clarke had wanted to keep herself alive. Anyone who wanders this world alone and unarmed surely had a death wish. Especially Clarke who has seen so much death and destruction in her short time on the ground. Clarke knew better than that. But Lexa knew Clarke was already tortured by the thoughts of blood on her hands and burned bodies at her feet. Lexa could only imagine what it had done to her to cause so much death in the Mountain.

Clarke was not raised to command death, not like Lexa had been.

The scouts finished their report and Lexa ordered them to the mess tent to refuel then to their personal tents to rest. They bowed their appreciation before stepping out of the Commander's tent.

When left alone with her thoughts Lexa felt that calming commander composure slowly deflating. She was furious. Furious at Clarke for leaving the safety of her people, furious at the Ice Queen for her constant quest for power, furious with Indra for taking on this rescue mission without consulting with her leader.

Most of all she was furious with herself, furious for the decision on the Mountain that lead to Clarke having to scramble to save her people. Furious for allowing herself to develop these feelings when she swore that she'd never allow it to happen again.

A heavy wooden table sat in the middle of her large meeting tent. It was still covered with evidence of the war with the Mountain. Maps and drawn battle plans laid strewn across the surface along with writing utensils, spare knives, swords, extra armour and clothing that Lexa had abandoned when she left for battle and ignored when she returned. She reached the table in five wide strides and flipped it with a mere flick of her wrists. She let out a guttural scream as the table's contents flew across the tent.

Her guards were in her tent within moments, their swords drawn and ready for a battle that they could never fight. They took in the mess where the table had been neatly standing moments before, looking back at their Commander for answers.

But Lexa knew could only offer them more questions.

"Sent for my horse." She barked.

 **/*Author's Note: Thanks for Reading! Don't forget to Leave a Review! */**


	8. Hope

The sound the book made as it slammed against the floor echoed around the stone walls, the letter drifted to the floor and landed at Clarke's feet.

"Are you alright?" Shawna called from her spot deep in the stacks.

Clarke hadn't even seen her sneak away but she she was thankful she had, it gave Clarke time to scramble to gather the items she had dropped.

Clarke stuffed the note into the front of her jeans pocket just as Shawna hustled over to her. Shawna wrapped her hand around Clarke's bicep to help Clarke to her feet, even though Clarke was already standing.

"Are you hurt?" Shawna asked.

Clarke shook her head, she faked a laugh as she brushed the dust off her jeans.

"Just clumsy." Clarke said with a shrug. She tried her best to look nonchalant but she could see the skeptism in Shawna's eyes.

Clarke was never a good liar.

Shawna's eyes danced from the book in Clarke's hand to the dusty pile on the table. Shawna's hands drifted to the helm of her dress, she nervously pulled at the stray threads.

Clarke followed Shawna's eyes. The pair looked back over the table and books set aside some time ago for someone to read. She thought of the letter addressed to Lexa hidden in her pocket and knew there could only be one author of that letter.

Costia had to have been in this library during her stay with the Ice Queen. Costia had carefully set aside this selection of books with plans to read them all. The Ice Queen had made her feel secure enough to develop a reading list. She had made Costia feel like everything was going to be okay. She must have felt just as safe here as Clarke had begun to feel.

Clarke wondered how long it took before she was tortured to death. And part of Clarke wondered how long she had left before she suffered the same fate.

Clarke felt anger bubble up inside her.

"You knew Costia." Clarke could hear the ice in her own voice as she spoke.

Shawna's eyes shot to Clarke. Clarke watched her mouth open and close as the words she tried to speak left her for new ones. But she didn't need to say anything. Shawna's silent shock spoke loud enough in the shadow of the accusation.

"Were you the one that brought her down here before she died?" Clarke said. Clarke heard the crack in her voice, her own fear poking out behind its veil of anger.

Clarke had faced so much death out on the ground but nothing scared her more than being locked away and defenseless. It brought her back to her time on the Mountain.

"Yes. N-No. I mean-" Shawna stumbled over her own words.

Clarke stepped forward and gripped the fabric of Shawna dress in two tight fistfuls at her neck. The book slammed to the floor once more and she heard Shawna yelp in surprise.

"Which is it?" Clarke yelled. She heard her voice echo and bounce off the stone walls, Shawna cringed, either out of fear or pain from the volume. Clarke didn't care which it was. "Did you bring her down here?"

Shawna could only manage a nod. She folded herself in Clarke's grasp, protecting herself from blows Clarke didn't intend to deliver. Clarke released her grip and Shawna fell backwards a few steps before she caught herself. Shawna brushed imaginary dust off her dress and straightened herself to a standing position.

Clarke made her way to the table and eyed the neat pile of books. She ran her finger over them and it came back covered in a thin layer of dust.

"These were the books she never got to read." Clarke said.

It was a statement, not a question, but Clarke could see Shawna nodding out of the corner of her eye.

Clarke made out some titles through the dust, a few were books on biology and nature. They were thick volumes, definitely not the usual choices for casual reading.

"She had expected to be around for a while." Clarke said absent-mindedly as she lifted the cover of a volume titled "The Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom" that was next on the pile.

"Her and the Queen had become fast friends." Shawna said.

Clarke let out a harsh laugh. She looked back up at Shawna, who jumped under her glare.

"Does she behead all her friends?" Clarke said.

Shawna eyed Clarke for a short moment, she only spoke when she was sure Clarke was waiting for a reply.

"Costia knew a lot of things, and was willing to share most of them." Shawna said. "Some would even say the knowledge she shared was more valuable than the knowledge of a simple warrior."

Clarke frowned. "What sort of knowledge?"

"She knew of the land and the animals. Both their new and old names. She could describe them from memory and chart their differences." Shawna said.

"The Queen listened to her for hours, she would go on about evolution and how it changed them from the old to the new." Shawna said. She placed a hand over one of the books and paused for a long moment. "The Queen really liked listening to her talk. Sometimes she let me listen too."

"What changed?" Clarke asked.

Shawna paused for a moment and looked again towards the pile of books in front of her. She seemed to be reminiscing as if they were discussing a long lost friend.

"The Queen grew curious about things Costia refused to discuss." Shawna said.

"Things about the Commander?" Clarke asked.

Shawna nodded.

"The Queen knew they were close. But Costia remained loyal to the Commander." Shawna said. "She could speak for hours about the animals and the plants but once the Commander's name was spoken Costia wouldn't utter a word."

Clarke watched Shawna swallow down a lump in her throat. She looked away from Clarke and when she turned back, Clarke could see wetness around Shawna's eyes.

"The Queen praises loyalty for herself but punishes loyalty for anyone else." Shawna said. "She grew impatient and started punishing Costia everytime she remained silent."

"How did she punish her? " Clarke asked. Part of her wasn't sure she actually wanted to know the answer to the question.

"In little ways at first, she would withhold meals or lock her in her bedroom. But eventually she grew so angry she brought her to the dungeon." Shawna said.

A fresh tear rolled down Shawna cheek before she wiped it away with the back of her hand.

"What happens in the dungeon?" Clarke absolutely didn't want to know the answer to this question but another part of her felt like she needed to know.

Shawna shook her head. When she spoke again her voice cracked with emotion.

"I don't know. Servants aren't allowed down there, only warriors and the Queen with her guard." Shawna said.

Clarke looked down at the floor, she couldn't help the image that entered her head. A picture of a young girl being tortured to death.

"But any servant who's walked by the dungeons has heard the screams. They echo down the hall. I heard them just today wh-. " Shawnas voice trailed off.

Clarke's eyes shot up and she found Shawna's hand grasping her mouth as if to keep herself from spilling out anymore words.

"Someone is down in the dungeons right now?" Clarke asked.

Her thoughts initially went to her people. Bellamy, who had promised not to follow her. Bellamy wasn't known to keep those promises. She thought of Lincoln, who was more experienced and comfortable in the woods than she would ever be and Octavia, who would have came after Clarke if it's what Octavia thought she should do.

Raven. Who refused to let her amputated leg hinder anything she felt she needed to do.

Or her mother.

Clarke didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to her mother when she left the grounp at Camp Jaha. She wasn't sure she would be able to look her mother in the eye anymore.

Now all she could think about was someone she cared about being locked away and tortured by the Queen and it being all her fault.

"Who's down there? " Clarke asked.

Shawna kept her eyes locked on the floor. Her refusal to look at Clarke only confirmed her worsened her fears.

It was someone she knew.

She felt her thoughts drift to Lexa and the usual wave of anger passed over her. She hadn't thought about what she would do or say if she saw the Commander again. She betrayed the Sky People, she betrayed Clarke and that wasn't something she would be able to forgive easily. But she wouldn't be able to just leave her locked away.

Would she?

"Shawna. " Clarke said. She dipped her head to fall back under Shawna's eye sight." Who is locked in the dungeons? "

Still Shawna refused to answer and Clarke felt her patience wavering.

"I'll just have to go there myself and find out." Clarke said.

She was at the door in five long strides. Clarke reached for the handle when she heard a yelp from behind her.

She turned to find Shawna finally looking up. Her hand still covered her mouth and freshly fallen tears drifted down her fingers.

Slowly Shawna removed her hand and began to speak at just above a whisper. Clarke had to step closer just so she could hear her.

"She is a dark skinned warrior of one of the clans. Small in stature but fierce and terrifying." Shawna said.

"Indra." Clarke said wistfully.

Lexa must know that she had been captured by the Ice Queen. Clarke wasn't sure if that made her feel relieved or more nervous. Why would Lexa have sent just one warrior?

It didn't make sense.

"Is the Queen hurting her now?" Clarke asked.

She thought of the pain the Queen must have been causing Indra to cause screams from someone as stubborn as her. The thought made Clarke's stomach lurch.

"No." Shawna said. "The warriors have said that she has finished for the day."

There was a bite to Shawna's words.

"She's tortured a lot of people." Clarke said. Shawna only responded with the slightest of nods.

"And you hate it." Clarke added.

Shawna nodded again, she looked down at her own feet.

"Then why do you serve her." Clarke asked.

Shawna didn't respond, and she didn't look up. Clarke folded her arms, deciding she rather wait Shawna out.

They waited a few more moments before Shawna looked up and sighed.

"Where else could I go?" Shawna said. "The Queen has told us how dangerous it is out there."

Clarke watched the way she gestured towards the door of the library but she knew she spoke of more than just outside of this room. She was afraid of the world outside of their winter palace. The palace the Queen had decorated with countless pieces of art, books and numerous other artifacts from a world they had lost long ago. She knew that Shawna had a chance to live a longer life hidden behind these walls. But what kind of life would that be? A life, befriending strangers just to watch their headless bodies dragged from the Queen's torture chambers?

"I'm not going to tell you it's safer out there but there's something in that world that you'll never get here." Clarke said.

Shawna let out a bemused laugh. "And what could that possibly be?"

"Hope." Clarke said. "Hope for something better, something new." You just have to be brave enough to face the worse times to have the better times."

Flashes of the life she had been trying so hard to avoid played through Clarke's head. The children's blistered bodies, littering the floor of the Mountain. Jasper's anguished cry played in her head as he clutched Maya's limp body. The picture of Lexa's back as her army marched away from Clarke and out of her life. The flashes went back even further to the charred grounder bodies from the fire of the dropship. The stench of burned death that filled her nose when she finally stepped off the ship. The feeling of the knife as Clarke plunged it into the blistered neck of Atom as he laid on the ground writhing in pain.

Then she thought of eating with Jasper and Bellamy, laughing as they had chocolate cake for the first time since they landed. She remembered the moment she laid eyes on her mom for the first time after she had escaped the Mountain. The happy tears she cried wiped away the mud and blood that caked her face as she realized that her mother had not died in a that fiery crash they had seen slam into the earth, that Finn and Bellamy were alive and well at the camp. The relief she felt when she realized she wasn't alone.

"Sometimes you find people that make those hard times out there all worth it." Clarke said.

 **/* Author's Note: Thanks to all those that review, fav or follow. You definitely keep me writing! I love hearing what you have to say and you help make me a better writer which is great!*/**


	9. Reunions

Lexa pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried to stem her anger. She had expected some level of mistrust from the leaders of the Skaikru but she thought they would at least be receptive to reason. She had very clearly gone over her plan of attack. Lexa had requested that the Skaikru send forces with her on the three day journey north. They would travel at a brisk pace, day and night, and cover the journey in half that time. While the Skaikru numbers were small their ability to manipulate fire would be an asset against the Ice Nation. Lexa had never seen the Ice Queen's palace in person but she knew it to be virtually impenetrable, it was surrounded on four sides by thick walls that had been built before the fall and had survived a hundred years.

A Skaikru bomb could bring Queen Nia's defensive walls down.

The Queen was confident in her walls. She would never expect her walls to crumble and they would catch her off-guard, the losses would be minimal and the Queen will finally fall. Most importantly Clarke would be returned to her people safely. Still the remaining leaders of the Skaikru doubted Lexa's plan. They questioned her with every possible war scenario their creative minds could contemplate and still they had more questions. They had more doubts and Lexa was growing restless.

The Skaikru were hopeless without their Sky Commander. The leaders were completely impractical and driven by the anger they still felt from the betrayal on the Mountain. Lexa understood that the wound they felt was still a fresh scar but she had ridden her favorite stallion deep into the night, she was exhausted, and Clarke's life was in jeopardy. This discussion was going nowhere.

Lexa liked to think that maybe she would have been more patient with the remaining leaders if matters weren't so urgent. Every second mattered and every redundant and pointless question asked could have been another nail in Clarke's coffin. Lexa was growing more frustrated with every passing question and she didn't even bother to hide it anymore.

"So you're telling me-" A tall man with scraggly hair began to speak and Lexa did her best to hide the disdain from her face when she looked up at him from her spot at the long meeting table.

"You're telling us." The man gestured to other leaders seated at the table. "That you want us to send all of our able-bodied soldiers and available arms, with you?" He gestured to Lexa. "And coincidently leave our camp completely defenseless?"

"We've gone over this." Lexa snapped.

Lexa took a deep breath. She really wished Clarke were here. Clarke had the patience to deal with the politics of the Skaikru. It was no wonder they ran out of oxygen on their sky ship. They wasted so much of it on their politics.

Lexa wondered how Clarke would speak to them to regain their trust and get them to see reason. Clarke had become a chameleon. She was able to be a ruthless as a grounder or as gentle as a sky politician, and she had the finesse to change her colors to fit the situation. It was an admirable skill. One Lexa thought she had mastered until she met the Skaikru and struggled to adjust to the snail's pace of their political discussions.

"I gave you my word that I would leave some of my own warriors here to protect your camp." Lexa said. She spoke slowly in an attempt to stem the bite in her tone.

"Yes, your word has never let us down before." The man shot back.

Lexa rose to her feet. The metal chair she had been sitting on fell to the ground behind her. The sound of steel against steel echoed throughout the meeting room.

"Clarke could die!" Lexa said.

Lexa slammed her first against the table, the rest of the leaders flinched backwards in their chairs.

"She could already be dead." A new voice spoke.

The entire room turned to the woman who spoke.

A heavy silence fell on those seated at the table. Lexa recognized the speaker as the Sky Commander's hard-nosed mother and the proclaimed Chancellor of the Sky People but Lexa knew her given name to be Abby.

"She could already be dead and this could all be some plot to eradicate the camp. Sending us on some wild goose chase and leaving us without our army." Abby said.

Lexa could see the tears threatening in Abby's eyes as she fought to keep them at bay. Lexa knew there was a part of Abby that believed that Clarke could already be gone. She didn't dare admit that there was a part of her that worried that this fact might be true as well. Lexa had faith in Clarke and she knew that if she was already gone Lexa would have sensed it. There would be a change in the air, a howl in the wind to tell her of Clarke's passing. The hole she felt in her heard the day Costia was executed would grow a little bigger if Clarke has been taken from her as well. Besides that fact, the Queen would have sent a messenger by now. She would have posted Clarke's head on a stake outside Camp Jaha.

No, Clarke was alive.

Lexa could feel it.

She couldn't explain it to the Skaikru, they were too spoiled by their life of technology, having everything forced fed and proved to them by their video screens.

"A mother knows a daughter better than all." Lexa said. She knew they'd never understand it but she tried to explain it anyway. "From the short time I have known her, Clarke has proven herself to be clever and resourceful." Lexa looked around at the other leaders. "If anyone could survive out there, it would be her."

"If anyone could survive." The man seated next to Abby echoed.

"I know you can feel it too." Lexa said. She looked into Abby's eyes and she pleaded with her to listen to her. "You know she's alive. But if we don't act soon that feeling is going to change and you'll fell it as Clarke's soul slips from this plain."

"Why do you care so much if Clarke lives or dies?" A new voice jumped into the mix.

It came from behind Lexa and she turned to see a young man she had recognized as one of the original 100 that had landed with Clarke on the dropship. He had been their inside man during the short war on Mount Weather. Lexa hadn't spent much time with Bellamy but she knew that Clarke trusted him, so she had trusted him too.

He pushed himself forward from his spot against the wall and stepped to the center of the room. Lexa noticed how young all of Bellamy's features seemed, except for his eyes which showed a tiredness one only gained from the exhaustion of war and leadership.

"You left her to die on the Mountain." Belmy said.

"I didn't leave her to die." Lexa said. "The truce with The Mountain was the best for my people. It was unfortunate I had to betray Clarke but it was a sacrifice I had to make." Lexa said.

"Oh, so we're just your sacrificial lambs." Someone cried out.

There was an eruption of noise from the table. Lexa didn't bother to look at any of them, her eyes locked on Bellamy who's face bore a sly smile that left Lexa feeling uneasy.

"She isn't talking about sacrificing us." Bellamy shouted over the crowd.

He waited for the voices to die down before he spoke again at a normal volume. "The Commander isn't talking about sacrificing us, she's talking about sacrificing her relationship with Clarke."

Lexa stepped backwards like she had been slapped. She could feel all eyes on her but she didn't dare look at any of them. She kept her eyes fixated on Bellamy. She didn't own Bellamy, she didn't have any command over him and shouldn't have expected any sense of loyalty. Yet she still felt an odd pang of betrayal.

"You and Clarke." Abby muttered as the realization of Bellamy's words hit her.

Lexa never felt so naked and exposed before. She felt her hands shaking, she put her hand on the hilt of her sword to try to hide her sudden weakness.

"No-We- " Lexa stumbled over her words. She felt a pang in her chest as the panic set in. She was supposed to be the composed Commander of the 12 Clans but she felt like everything was unraveling around her. Her secret had been spread out on the table for everyone to see and it terrified her. She had tried so hard to bury it.

"Speak true." Bellamy said. He used her people's own words against her. He rounded the table and stood by her side. Bellamy lowered his mouth to Lexa's ear.

"Being honest is the only way you're going to be able to help Clarke." Bellamy whispered only loud enough for Lexa to hear.

She nodded. Lexa understood Bellamy's motives for sharing her secret and a part of her could forgive him for it. Lexa stilled her hands and she swallowed. She looked over at the table of Skaikru. All were waiting patiently for her response. Her eyes fell on Abby and any words she thought she could say, got caught in her throat.

"It makes a lot of sense, now." Abby said. "They way you looked at Clarke when you thought no one could see you..." Abby drifted off as if she was picturing one of those very moments.

This was never a strength of Lexa's. She had been trained in the art of practicality; attachments, relationships, and especially love would all shadow her thoughts. It would keep her from weighing her decisions and doing the right thing to help her people.

She was the Commander.

She was meant to lead.

She was never meant to feel.

"With all do respect Chancellor. I have tried to make sense of how I feel for many moons and would need many more to explain them to you. And, at the moment, Clarke doesn't have any moons to spare." Lexa said.

Abby regarded Lexa for a long while. Lexa was beginning to feel uneasy under her gaze.

"Let's go over the details of this plan one more time." Abby said.

Lexa began to speak once again but for the first time she felt like all of the leaders seated at the table were actually listening.

* * *

The cold ground felt soothing to Indra's damaged body. She wasn't sure how long the Queen had questioned her between blows from her warriors but after a while the time seemed to pass in a blur and all the strikes seemed to blend into one.

All she knew now was that she was in a heap on the floor using the cold stone to soothe her broken body.

She wasn't much of a healer but she had seen her fair share of injuries and she knew enough to know that she was hurt pretty badly. As if there was glasses embedded in her lungs, stabbing her insides on every breath.

She couldn't move from her spot on her floor. She tried to push herself up but the pain was too much. It didn't matter, even if she did manage to rise to her feet. She heard the heavy slam of the cell door when the Queen and her guard left, and she heard the clank as a lock settled into place. She was imprisoned behind a heavy door and there wasn't much of a chance for her own escape. Especially in her current state.

She had heard stories that spoke of the horrors of the Queen's torture. Indra was never one to put merit into stories. There were so many tall tales spoken around a warrior's campfire. She remembered how some of stories spoke of ice spikes plunged into the chest of some of the Queen's victims. The spike provided excruciating pain and the cold of the ice clotted the wound. It prevented the loss of precious blood, allowing the Queen to torture the victim's for hours longer. If those stories were true, Indra felt like she had gotten off easy.

Maybe the Queen had given up on her torture. Maybe the Queen had realized that Indra would always be too stubborn to confess anything of value to the Ice Queen. She hoped the Queen would get back to her collection of old world trinkets and just cut her head off already.

There was a noise at her door and Indra felt dread seep into the pit of her stomach. She steeled herself and prepared her body.

However after several moments, the door remained closed. Indra listened to the murnur of voices that traveled to her ears and tried to make sense of the sounds.

She heard the lock clang against its hold and the rattle of the door against its hinges. There's was another fury of voices and sounds. Indra could have sworn that she heard a familiar voice calling her name but assumed she had suffered a few too many blows to the head and they were causing her to hallucinate.

The heavy door let out a loud creak. Indra was certain the Queen had returned for her this time. She could sense the danger. These were going to be her last moments. The Queen had returned to kill her. The Queen planned to send her head back to her Commander as a message but Indra wouldn't go without a fight. She had failed her Commander and she hadn't achieved her mission to rescue Clarke but she could at least take a few of the Queen's guardsman. It would leave a few less warriors for her Commander to fight when the Queen's treachery was exposed.

Indra could hear the guards grunting against the strain as they slowly pulled open the heavy cell door. Indra prepared her mind. She remember her training as a warrior and channelled her spirit, using her mind to push away the pain of her body.

Indra listened to the soft footfalls as a guard stepped into Indra's cell. Indra kept her eyes shut tight and instead she listened to the sounds of the warrior's feet. The guard moved in an erratic pattern that Indra was having trouble predicting. The guard didn't move with a purpose. Instead the guard seemed to have stopped several feet away as if to study Indra. Indra remained still. She ignored the familiar voice calling out to her inside of her head. She couldn't let herself get distracted. She still had a battle to fight. She had some guards to kill before she was taken by the Queen. She had to do it for her Heda. The guard finally started to approach, his movements were slow and it almost pained Indra to wait for him to get into striking distance but Indra remembered her discipline. She waited until she felt the body of the guard kneel down beside her.

Indra flipped onto her back, launching a fist across her body in the process and landing against a soft piece of flesh. She had landed short of her goal, she was hoping to hear the crack of a nose or a cheek bone but her current state had limited her striking distance further then Indra could have predicted. She instead connected with what felt like the soft flesh of a stomach. It was enough to knock the air out of the guard's lungs. She heard the slam against of a body against the stone and heard the guard coughing for breath.

Ignoring the pain in her ribs Indra rose to her knees and pounced on top of the unsuspecting guard. Indra had seen the guards that dropped her in the cell had kept their knives on their left side. Indra cupped for the handle of the knife on her incapacitated guard but she only felt the rough fabric of the guard's pants.

"Indra!" The call of her name came out between gasping coughs. She looked down at the body that was pinned underneath her legs and saw familiar blonde locks.

"Sky Commander." She growled.

Indra regarded the Commander in the low light of the torches. She was relatively unharmed though she bore a small bandage over her brow. The Sky Commander had escaped the worst of the Queen's torture. Most importantly she was still alive. Indra could still return the silly girl who ran away from her clan, and keep the alliance intact.

"Stupid Sky Commander." Indra said.

Even in the darkness Indra see the shameful nod the Sky Commander offered. Indra slowly rose to her feet her hands instinctively went to her ribs to try and calm the stabbing pain in her lungs. It did nothing to help.

"Let me check you." Clarke said.

Clarke stood and lifted Indra's shirt. The bruises were thick even through Indra's dark skin. Clarke prodded the darkest areas of the bruise. It made Indra's body jolt, she couldn't help the groan that escaped her mouth. She slapped Clarke's hand away.

"I think you have a few broken ribs." Clarke suggested.

Indra scoffed at her. "You didn't think I already knew that?"

Clarke merely shrugged in response and part of Indra wondered if Clarke had just poked her to piss her off.

"Shawna." Clarke said. She looked over her shoulder and Indra saw a sheepish young woman standing in the doorway.

"Indra might need a little help." Clarke added.

Indra let out another scoff. She'd be damned if she let the Sky Commander and this tiny woman carry her out of this cell.

"Speak for yourself." Indra said.

Indra used her left arm to cradle her damage ribs and turned towards the door. She pushed past Shawna and headed down the hall. She ignored the pain that seared through her body on every step.

"Indra." Clarke called.

Indra chose to ignore the smirk on the Sky Commander's face when she turned to face her. She would remember that when Clarke was safely back at Camp Jaha and her ribs were feeling better.

"We're heading this way." Clarke said. She gestured over her shoulder towards the opposite hallway.

Indra gave a frustrated huff and turned around. She moved to push past Clarke but Indra felt all the strength of her body suddenly evaporate and her body was overcome with pain. She feel forward. Clarke caught her by her shoulders, the other woman grabbed her arm.

"Are we ready to admit that we need some help?" Clarke said.

She scolded Indra like one would scold a child. Indra decided to put aside her ego. They needed to get out of this place before anyone knew they were gone and the faster they got there the better. She regrettably gave Clarke the subtlest of nods and tried to ignore the proud smirk that Clarke gave her when she admitted defeat. All of her warriors had been trained to ignore pain to give them an edge on the battlefield. It gave her warriors a leg up against the enemy and allowed them to stand for a few more slashes of their sword and most of the time it made the difference between life and death. There was only so much abuse a single body could take and only so much pain a mind could ignore. The strongest warriors could ignore the deepest of cuts for a long time but they were all human and the pain would eventually come rushing back tenfold. Indra could only suppress the pain in her ribs for so long.

Even under the support of the two women the pain was radiating through Indra's entire body and each step seemed to make it worse. Indra could barely keep her eyes open, her body losing the fight against her mind's desire to escape the suffering. Her warrior's body was exhausted. She just wanted to rest.

Clarke shook her awake. Indra's head lifted up and a wretched stench filled her nostrils.

"Just a little further." Shawna promised.

"It smells like death." Indra said. Her body paused its movement enough to cause the girls to stop. The last thing she wanted to do was head towards the source of that smell.

"Are you seriously afraid of a little garbage?" Clarke said.

"Garbage?" Indra asked. Of course Indra knew what garbage was but it was such a foreign concept to her people. Every animal's sacrifice was too precious to waste. Even the bodies of enemies were burned in a funeral pyre. They respected the planet and the forest and things it offered to them. They had no concept of waste. There was no garbage to her people. She had no concept of it and couldn't contemplate the idea. What could the Ice Nation have so much of to create waste?

Clarke nodded. She looked across Indra to Shawna, Indra's head turned to look at Shawna as well.

"All of the leftover food from meals are stored until the workers can wheel them out on the wagons." Shawna said.

"And lucky for us there's some wagons going out at day break." Clarke added.

They turned a corner and Indra was overwhelmed with the stench. It filled her nostrils and her stomach clenched as she tried her best to not empty her stomach all over the Sky Commander.

She looked up to see piles of garbage. It was astounding how different her people were from the Ice Nation. They had wasted so much. The piles of food could have fed her village three times over. They wouldn't have had to hunt for weeks and here it sat, just rotting away.

"The wagons have already been filled." Shawna said.

Indra hadn't even noticed the wagons. There were five of them, they were some of the largest wagons Indra had seen and they were filled to the brim with rotting food.

"How can they waste so much? " Indra said.

Indra spoke to herself mostly but Shawna still answered her.

"It's from the Queen's meals mostly." Shawna responded. "She wants a variety of options at every meal but she rarely has an appetite for much."

"She told me you guys ate the leftovers." Clarke said.

That drew a laugh from Shawna.

"Oh no. We don't eat royal food." Shawna said. "A typical servants meal consists of oats and maybe some honey or syrup. If we're lucky enough to snag some from leftover meals. But if the Queen ever caught us doing that-"

Indra could hear the scoff come from Clarke but Clarke said nothing further.

"So, we're just going to hop on one of those carts and get wheeled out of here?" Indra said. "This is the great Sky Commander's master plan."

"Well sort of." Clarke said.

She positioned Indra against one of the walls and stepped forward to inspect the first cart in the line. Indra took the time to catch her breath and soothe her aching stomach. Clarke was on her knees inspecting the undercarriage of the cart. Indra watched her with a degree of curiosity, wondering what the Commander was expecting to find.

"Except it was Shawna's plan." Clarke said.

When Clarke rose to her feet there was a hint of smile on her lips when she turned to meet Indra's eyes.

"And you're more going _inside_ the cart." clarke said. She pointed to towards the rotten pile of food.

 **/* Author's Note: So I got the vibe that you wanted longer chapters. So I've decided to combine my chapters. So you'll probably get less frequent updates, but longer chapters. Is that something you'd prefer? Let me know! I've also been taking some of the suggestions from your reviews and tried to clean up a bit. Hope you enjoy!*/**


	10. Escape

**/*Author's Note: Sorry for the delay. I was reading Chapter 10 a bit ago and realized it wasn't quite up to par so I had to do bit of a rewrite/editing. Thanks to all the read an review! I hope you enjoy!*/**

Clarke felt the muscles in her arms and legs burning from exertion as she held on to the undercarriage of the third wagon. She could hear the creaks in the wheels with every turn. They had been traveling for hours and Clarke wasn't sure she could hold on for very much longer.

Sore muscles were a small price to pay for their lives. So she held on tight, closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on something other than her exhaustion.

Her mind drifted to Lexa first.

 _Of course it did_. Clarke thought.

Under normal circumstances she'd fight it. She'd bury the thoughts of that kiss like she had been trying so hard to do since the betrayal on the Mountain but this time she was too tired to fight. Her body was too weak and her mind too fragile from churning through plans and alternative plans if something went wrong. If she drowned out the sound of the wheels she could picture that day in the tent almost perfectly. She could see the darkness in Lexa's eyes as if Lexa were standing right in front of her. Lexa's black war paint only enhanced the effect Lexa's eyes had.

In the moment, Clarke had mistaken the look for excitement for the upcoming battle. The grounders seemed to live for violence and Clarke had wrongly assumed that Lexa had been looking forward to the fight. It wasn't until Clarke had revisited the memory at times like this that she had realized the real emotions behind Lexa's eyes.

It took something as obvious as a kiss for Clarke to begin to comprehend that between all the battles and all the politics something had found a way to blossom though the cracks of their fragile alliance. Clarke had seen the human parts of Lexa, she had met the woman underneath the war paint and realized that Lexa wasn't very different from herself.

The kiss Lexa had initiated was not unwelcome but it was certainly unexpected. Clarke had been too distracted by her plans to free her friends and going over the schematics of the Mountain to take time to make sense of the relationship that had developed between the Commander and herself.

She had known something was there. It hung heavy in the air and in the moment they touched lips, Clarke felt all those other weights peeled off her shoulders if only for a second. For the first time since her father had been floated she had felt cared for, she had felt safe.

Then Lexa's lips separated from her own and she felt that heaviness again, only this time it was suffocating her. There were expectations in this kiss. Expectations Clarke wasn't ready to fulfill. She couldn't be what Lexa wanted. Not so soon after losing Finn. Not with a war to fight.

Some bits of hard stone pelted Clarke in the back causing a light stinging sensation that Clarke welcomed over the screaming in her biceps. She could hear the rocks and earth as they were kicked up from the wagons and hit against the wood of the cart. She wasn't sure how much longer they had to travel and she was starting to doubt if riding on the bottom of the wagon had been a good idea. They had hidden the wounded Indra, burying her under a light pile of garbage in the first wagon in the caravan but Shawna and Clarke had underestimated how long that would take and by the time they were finished hiding Indra, they could already hear the drivers making their way down the hallway. So their only option was to hold on tight and hope they weren't spotted.

Clarke wondered how Shawna was fairing behind her. The only consolation Shawna had over Clarke was she seemed to have some idea of how far they had to travel and could probably gauge how much longer she had to hold on before they reached their destination.

Clarke wondered how far west they would travel and tried to calculate how long of a journey they had before returning Indra to what was left of Tondc or at least getting her back to Camp Jaha. Indra needed a healer or even better, she needed Clarke's mom. Clarke knew blunt force injuries like the one's Indra had suffered could cause devastating internal injuries. They still had some technology they could use to detect those injuries and save her if Indra suffered any serious internal bleeding. She knew the hardest part would be convincing her mother to help a grounder, especially after everything that happened on Mount Weather but her mother was a healer, she would never let someone die and Clarke knew it would be a short argument as soon as her mother saw Indra's condition.

But Clarke knew she couldn't jump the gun too early. Camp Jaha was still a long ways away.

She had to get Indra out of Ice Nation territory. Once she escaped the Ice Nation she just hoped she could find some of Lexa's scouts on horseback and snag a ride back to the Camp.

She had heard and saw no signs of war amongst the grounders and her people in the time she had been away. It had seemed as though Lexa had decided to leave the Sky People alone. Perhaps she didn't them as a threat anymore now that the Mountain was gone or maybe her people were intimidated by the destruction of the Mountain. Her people had rid them of a powerful enemy and perhaps that was enough to stem the tides of peace out of fear alone.

Or maybe Lexa was finally feeling merciful. Maybe she thought the Sky People finally deserved a break from the onslaught of violence that seemed to always find them. Maybe she had managed to negotiate a treaty with Kane and her mother. Maybe they were finally at peace and have moved on to a civilized life without Clarke. Maybe she was the missing link and returning was just going to bring another war for the Sky People to fight. This time against the Ice Nation.

Maybe they were better off without her.

Clarke hadn't noticed the way her arms had slowly begun to give way. The rocks of the path scrapped against the skin of her back. It burned at it ripped against her clothes. It shocked Clarke to attention and she pulled herself back up and above the rough road underneath. She was safe but the damage was done, she could feel the cool air on the raw skin of her back. That would have to be cleaned as soon as possible or it would become infected.

Her wagon creaked as it slowed to a full stop. Clarke felt her heart jump up to her throat. Had they heard something? Had they seen her?

She heard a voice shout something in a language she didn't quite understand. The voice hadn't come from her driver or any of the other drivers around them. It had come from someone ahead of them on the road. She didn't understand the words they had spoken but she knew the sounds of a command when she heard one. The drivers must have been flagged down, their caravan still remained parked in position.

Clarke could hear the driver of her cart mutter something to another. It was a muffled question that simply recieved a grunt in reply from another driver.

Clarke hooked the crook of elbow around the under carriage and dared a glance back at Shawna. Shawna offered no explanation. She just shook her head and gave some attempt of a shrug even as she held on to the undercarriage of her wagon. The driver of Clarke's wagon seemed just as confused as they were and he grumbled something to another driver but Clarke couldn't make out his words again. Clarke felt her wagon shift with a sudden change of weight as her driver lept down from his perch. She watched his feet as he moved towards the front of the wagons.

She watched the boots of other drivers as they marched past her wagon, she assumed heading towards the source of the voice that had called out to them. She heard the gruff voice shout again and she looked back to see Shawna crawling out from underneath her wagon, shifting towards the left side of the wagon, away from the marching feet. She checked the back and then the front of the lines. Shawna slipped between the wheels and slid down from the road onto an embankment a few feet down from the path.

Clarke followed, she eased herself down to the gravel and inched herself towards the edge of the wagon. She checked both directions for any hint of a driver or anyone else that would give away her location. She didn't move from underneath the wagon until she was satisfied no one was watching.

Clarke slipped down the muddy embankment and fell into a pile of leaves next to Shawna. She looked back up at the group of drivers but none of them seemed to notice her movements.

"What's going on?" Clarke whispered.

Shawna looked up at the group and Clarke knew it was bad news just by the expression on her face.

"A member of the Queen's guard has stopped the caravan." Shawna whispered. "He wants to search all the wagons."

Clarke looked over them cover of the embankment and studied the group. From her position down the embankment should could only see the feet of the drivers but she could also see several pairs of thick ornate boots that must have been from the Queen's guards.

She looked back towards the thick bushes behind them, if they took off now they could escape into the forest and the guards would never know. That would leave Indra trapped in the first wagon, they would find her easily and bring her back to a furious Ice Queen. Indra would never leave that palace alive if she went back now. The only reason Indra was ever here was because of Clarke, there was no way she could leave her behind. What happened on the Mountain wasn't important right now.

"What are you thinking?" Shawna said.

Indra was inches away from the Queen's guard and they had to act fast to draw them away before Indra was found. The guards we already starting to poke and prod at the trash in the first cart, throwing piles and bags to the ground as they searched. Clarke heard protests from the drivers and she heard one of the guards snap back with something that seemed to silence them instantly.

"They're going to find her." Shawna whispered.

"Hide." Clarke said.

Shawna turned to look at Clarke, Clarke could see the confusion in her face.

"I need you to hide." Clarke repeated. She gestured to the bushes behind them.

"What are you going to do?" Shawna asked.

"I'm going to draw the guards away." Clarke said. "I'm the one they want anyway."

"What if they catch you?" Shawna said.

Clarke ignored the question.

"The guards are going to come after me." Clarke said. "And I'm guessing the drivers are going to be a little preoccupied. Then you're going to grab the first cart and drive it south to a my people's camp, do not stop for anyone. Ask for my mother, her name is Abby. Tell them Clarke sent you."

"What about you?" Shawna said.

Clarke forced her lips upwards into a smile, hoping it would be enough to convince Shawna.

"I'll be right behind you." Clarke lied. "But Indra needs a doctor. So you need to get there fast, don't wait for me. I'll catch up. "

Clarke wasn't sure if Shawna was entirely convinced that Clarke would be following them but she nodded anyway. Shawna pushed herself up to her knees and climbed into the bushes. Once she was in the thickest part of the brush, she lowered herself and looked up at Clarke to make her move. Clarke gave Shawna one last reassuring nod before she climbed back up the embankment and made her way to the last cart in the caravan. The horse strapped to the cart had taken advantage of the stop to nibble on the few blades of grass that had grown on the side of the path. Clarke ran her hand over the mane and patted the horse gently. For some reason that made her feel better about what she was about to do. She moved back to the driver's seat, hoping to find something useful tucked away there. She looked back at the gathered group of guards and drivers to make sure they were still distracted, she could see the group watching the guards as they were searching around the sides of the first cart. Clarke needed to act fast. Her hands landed on something hard she pulled it up to inspect it and found a small, rusted pocket knife. It wasn't a weapon in the slightest. The driver probably used it more for odd jobs and didn't really count on it for defense but it would be good enough for what Clarke needed to do.

Clarke stepped forward and ran her hands over the thick powerful back legs of the horse.

"I'm sorry, buddy." Clarke said.

She ran the blade over the horses rear-end, pressing hard enough to draw blood and piss the horse off but not dealing any real damage. The horse let out a loud neigh as it kicked backwards with its rear legs. Clarke fell to the ground to avoid a hoof to her chest. The horse took off running, trying to put as much distance between itself and Clarke as it could. The cart it carried slammed against the next in the line, spilling its contents all over the path. The horse straightened itself on the path, dragging its now damaged cart behind it. The Queen's men jumped in various directions to avoid the hooves and heavy wheels that barreled towards them. Some of them landed on the other side of the embankment while others jumped behind the first cart for cover.

Clarke was shocked to see the cart pass them without running over a single driver or guard. She watched drivers stumble to their feet and take off down the path, following the panicked horse.

One guard looked back at the source of the commotion and spotted Clarke in the center of that path. He shouted back to the others, pulled out his sword and took off for Clarke at a full sprint. Clarke pushed herself to her feet and took off running in the opposite direction on the path, driving the guards as far away from the front of the carts as she could.

She glanced over her shoulder to see that all of the guards seemed to be following her, though they didn't seem to be closing the gap between her at all. They were too weighted down by their ornate weapons and armour to catch up to a light-footed Clarke. Once she was satisfied with the distance from the carts she turned and jumped down a steep embankment. Clarke found herself sliding down feet first, the back of her jeans coated in a thick layer of dirt and she landed back on her feet on the bottom and headed for the edge of the forest.

She could hear their grunts as the guards tumbled down the embankment behind her. Clarke couldn't help but smirk that built on her face as she put more distance between herself and the guards.

She heard the wheels of a cart and knew that it must finally be Shawna making her getaway with Indra.

She paused at the edge of the forest and turned around to see the guards still following her. There were four of them. The last of the group was just still trying to pull himself up at the bottom of the embankment, one of the other guards had stopped to assist him. Shawna passed them in her cart and the guards turned, a couple tried to make their way back up the embankment towards the cart but there was a shout from the other guard. It was another command. The guards stopped their scramble up and turned to face Clarke. Her plan had worked. They were willing to forgo the cart if they could capture Clarke.

Clarke took off running, plunging herself into the forest where she knew the guards would never catch up to her. She wished it was members of the Queen's guard that had tried to capture her that day in the field. They weren't nearly as spry as her warriors.

Still she ran. She ran as fast as she could for as long as her legs would allow her.

She had lost track of how long it had been and had long ago she had stopped hearing the sounds of the guards shouts but she knew she had lost them.

She found a fallen tree that would give her some cover from passing eyes so she ducked inside to rest her aching muscles and collect her thoughts.

The forest was too thick to find the direction of the sun, she needed to find a clearing so she knew which direction was south so she could find her way back to Camp Jaha. But she didn't know how deep this forest was, or how long she would be traveling before she found another clearing. She could double back, pass the guards that were searching for her and find her way back to the road. But that planned seemed to risky. What if the drivers were still on the road? what if they had sent out for other guards from the castle?

The crunch of leaves woke Clarke from her thoughts.

Clarke leaned down to look through a break in the fallen tree. A few yards away she can see a large wolf making its way along the path. She watched through her hiding spot as the wolf sniffed at the ground. It moved slowly as it seemed to scan Clarke's footprints in the snow. It was tracking her and she knew it was only a matter of time before the wolf found her in this hiding spot.

Clarke moved slowly and wrapped her fingers around a thick branch in the leaves next to her. She listened as the leaves crunched closer as the wolf followed her trail to her spot hidden behind the tree. The wolf seemed to move along at a snail's pace. She could hear the sniffs and exhales as it tracked her scent on the group. It seemed to move slower the closer it got. Clarke fingers itched as she lifted the branch up to striking level. She could feel the warmth of the wolf's breath as it inched closer.

She waited as a paw stepped out from around the trunk. She lifted the branch higher and waited as the wolf poked its head around the corner of the tree. It spotted Clarke, brought it lips up into a threatening snarl and let out a low, guttural growl.

Clarke brought the branch down across the top of the wolf's head using as much of her strength as she could muster.

There was a short yelp of pain before the wolf fell into a heap on top of the frozen ground.

Clarke rose to her feet, she took a few steps forward and came face-to-face with a much larger wolf. It's gray eyes locked on to Clarke's and it's lips lifted up in a snarl, showing large, yellowing fangs. Clarke stilled all her movements. The massive animal was hunched over, the muscles of its legs pulled and flexed with each snarl.

Clarke took a step to her right and the animal snarled, it's mouth opening, revealing more of those dangerous teeth, showing Clarke just how much damage it could cause the second it decided to attack. Clarke stilled again.

Clarke eyed the stick she had dropped next to the first, now, still wolf and tried to calculate the amount of time she would have to grab the stick before the new wolf jumped to attack.

As if reading her mind, the wolf jumped forward, it's powerful legs launched it into the air with what seemed like minimal effort. Before Clarke could react, nails dug into her chest, she fell back against the snow, the air forced from her lungs and the hot rancid breath of the wolf blowing into her face as it snarled again.

The wolf sprayed Clarke's face with spit as it leaned in, inches from its nose. Her hands were pinned to her side but the wolf's weight.

Maybe this was a better way to go. To die at the hands of an animal of the forest instead of tortured by the Queen.

She closed her eyes and waited for the pain of the first bite, hoping the wolf would go for the killing blow first, instead of prolonging her pain.

But nothing happened.

She felt the nails dig against her skin as the wolf shifted it's weight on top of her, adjusting it's stance on top of her chest. She opened her eyes to see the wolf lift it's head and released a deafening howl.

Clarke freed her right hand and reached out for a branch buried in the snow but It was just a touch too far, her fingers barely grazed it as she stretched for it. She looked up at the wolf as it adjusted its weight again, reared back and let out another howl. Clarke stretched just a bit further, her fingers knocked the stick and it felt from the snow and landed into the palm of Clarke's hand. She brought the stick up and slammed it against the side of the wolf's head.

It fell on to it's side. Clarke pulled herself to her feet and took off running. She heard shouting coming from edge of the woods. The howl of the wolf had attracted the Queen's guards. They had found her.

Clarke cursed under her breath.

She glanced back over her shoulder and found the wolf was starting to scramble to its feet. For the first time she noticed the blue gray mark of Ice Nation branded just over its right leg. They had trained this wolf to track people. Clarke felt powerless, she couldn't battle the creatures of the forest along with the people of the Ice Nation. She took off running before the wolf could regain itself. She finally made her way out of the forest, she came to a clearing and a sloping hill of a landscape. The sun was in the middle of the sky, hinting that it was mid-day and providing no use to Clarke to what direction she should head. That didn't matter now, she just needed some distance. She needed some time to think of a way to escape the Queen's trained animals.

She took off running down the hill.

She had barely registered the sound of crunching leaves before she felt the sharp pain above her left shoulder. She fell face first into the ground, the impact knocking the breath from Clarke's lungs.

The wolves teeth embedded into the top of her shoulder. Should could feel the heat of its breath on the exposed part of her shoulder as the teeth tore through her skin. Clarke tried to push up from the ground and the wolf shook it's head, tossing Clarke like a rag doll and ripping her shoulder to shreds. Clarke couldn't help the scream of pain that escaped her lips. Clarke stilled her movements and the wolf did as well but it didn't remove it's fangs from her shoulder. Clarke could feel the heat of her own blood as it flowed down her back and soaked her shredded shirt

She grabbed handfuls of cold ground to try to stem the pain that radiated from the bite. She heard a shout and she felt instant relief as the wolf released the grip on her shoulder and his weight was remove from her back.

The snow crunched under the weight of boots and Clarke didn't bother to look. She knew who she would see if she looked up. Her shoulder burned as her arms were pulled around her back and her wrists bound.

She was lifted to her feet and swayed as she saw the amount of her own blood that turned the snow a bright red. The guard didn't wait for Clarke to get her bearings. She stumbled forward but a guard kept her upright as he pushed her forward through the woods. They marched until they came upon a group of waiting guards. They threw her across a waiting horse and started the long journey back to the Queen's palace.


	11. The Betrayal

**/*Author's Note: Thanks to all those that read and review!*/**

Abby knew she was just walking in circles. It had been a nervous habit she developed since she landed on the ground. She was used to being able to travel anywhere on the Ark but life on the ground was very different. They had an entire world available to them but she felt trapped inside the walls of their small camp. There were so many things beyond those gates that she wished she could see but there were many more things that wanted them dead. She had experienced it first hand when she was laid across a surgical table with her legs spread apart and her wrists and ankles buckled down by the Mountain Men.

The leaders of the Mountain Men were willing to trade her life and the life of her people for the ability to once again walk on the surface of the planet.

Abby can still hear the sound of the drill in her nightmares. Those are usually the same nights she wakes up in a cold sweat. She had learned to force herself to pace around the walls of her room until the exhaustion of her body forced her eyes to close once more.

Abby's hands found the scar before she even realized she had been looking for it. Through the fabric of her pants she could still feel the bump on her thigh, a reminder of where the drill broke through her skin that night on the Mountain. The smell of her own burning flesh is still fresh in her nose. She can still remember the searing pain she felt as the drill ripped through her skin and muscle.

Abby knew she should place blame where it deserved to be. She knew it was Cage Wallace, the leader of the Mountain Men, who ordered her onto the table. It was Cage who ordered his doctors to harvest the bone marrow of her people. It was the Mountain Men who had tortured Lexa's people and harvested them like cattle.

Still Abby couldn't help but blame Lexa for that night. She was the leader of twelve clans and the Commander of a massive force of ruthless and well-trained warriors. It was the alliance Lexa had formed with Clarke that had given them hope for their people. It was the alliance that had given Clarke hope and taken a little of the burden off her daughter's shoulders. It had given them a powerful ally and together the Mountain didn't stand a chance against them. If the Commander hadn't walked away, Abby wouldn't have this scar on her leg. If the Commander hadn't walked away her daughter wouldn't have had to make the decision to eradicate an entire people. If the Commander hadn't walked away, Clarke would be home and safe at Camp Jaha, the alliance with the grounders would be intact and they would be able to live in some sort of life that resembled peace.

All Clarke wanted was peace.

Instead there was one enemy after another. It was a constant stream of death and danger and her daughter constantly found herself in the middle of all the chaos. When had Clarke grown up so fast? She had always been a fighter, Abby wasn't surprised to see her rough and tumble nature translate well on the ground. That's why she was put on that dropship, she knew Clarke would lead the delinquents.

Abby had thought the arrangement was only temporary. She thought she would be able to come down and be with her daughter and they would have a normal family again. She had expected things to go back to the way they were on the Ark with the adults handling the politics and the kids off to enjoy what was left of their childhood. Abby had underestimated how strong and independent Clarke and the other delinquents would become, they had become a vital resource down on the ground. They had developed relationships with the grounders down here and had learned so much in such a short amount of time. They had become keys to their survival.

Her daughter had never wavered in her position as a leader, even after her mother's ship landed on the ground. The delinquents looked up to Clarke and even the grounders respected her. Their leader held a high opinion of Clarke and their relationship had been vital to the alliance even forming in the first place. Clarke had made some tough decisions along the way. Some that had even shocked Abby. Giving up Finn to Lexa had been the most shocking of them all and something even she had difficulty coming to terms with. Abby knows that Clarke feels partially responsible for the betrayal on the Mountain, since she had sacrificed so much in order to secure that very alliance but Clarke couldn't have never seen that coming. No one had seen that coming.

Now Abby was in a similar spot Clarke was in a few months ago. She had just shook the hand of the Commander and she was having her doubts. It had shown that it was a bad decision to trust the grounders on the Mountain but was it a worse decision to follow Lexa into a mission against the Ice Nation?

What choice did she have?

If the story the Commander told was true. The Ice Nation had Clarke captive and Clarke was in grave danger. Abby couldn't just sit by while her daughter was tortured and killed by the Ice Nation. If she sat back and left her forces to guard the camp and a scout returned with Clarke's body, Abby would never be able to live with herself. She couldn't stand by and let her own daughter die.

The delinquents needed Clarke back just as much as Abby did. They had become some of their strongest soldiers and most inventive citizens and every one of them looked to Clarke for leadership. Her disappearance had been hard on them. Bellamy and Monty seemed to have been the hardest hit. Clarke hadn't been alone in that control room. Monty and Bellamy were part of the destruction of Mount Weather and they each had weight to bear. They didn't speak of it often but Abby could see the pain in their eyes and she could hear it in the hollowness of their laughs.

"Abby."

Abby jolted at the sound of her name and turned to find Marcus Kane standing in the doorway. He pulled the door shut as he stepped inside.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you." Marcus said.

He took several steps forward and placed his hand on Abby's arm rubbing it up and down in a comforting manner. It was only then that Abby noticed there were tears rolling down her cheeks.

She wiped them away with the back of her hand.

"No, it's okay." Abby said.

Abby pulled out of Marcus's grasp and took several long strides until she reached the far corner of the room. Putting as much space between Marcus and herself as she could. For some reason being vulnerable around him was still something she hadn't gotten used to but, if she were honest, she had never gotten used to being vulnerable around anyone.

"There's just a lot going on." Abby said.

She took a second to gather herself and turned to see Marcus still standing in the middle of the room, his arms now folded across his chest. She knew he felt slighted by her rejection but he was trying his best to bury his own pain. He had been so patient with Abby for so long, but she knew he could only last for so long before he gave up on whatever was going on between them.

"I don't trust her, Abby." Marcus said.

Abby studied him for a moment. There was Kane, the leader she had come to trust in the war room and then there was the Marcus she had come to know behind closed doors and she wasn't sure who she was speaking to now.

"I know you don't either." Marcus said. He took several steps forward and cupped her cheek in his hand. "I know you want to get Clarke back. But if she is really there, we've got to find another way."

Abby held his wrist to keep his hand where it was. She hadn't realized how much she had needed his touch. It seemed as if she had only been able to fall asleep when she was in Marcus's arms. She hadn't bothered to think about what that all meant. She hadn't had time to think of such things. Not with Clarke gone. Not when they were always on the brink of war.

"There is no other way." Abby said. "If the Commander is telling the truth. Clarke could be executed at any moment."

"The Commander is hiding something." Marcus said. "I've spoken with Octavia and Lincoln. The strings that keep the alliances of the clans intact are thinning and the alliance with the Ice Nation is holding on by a thread. The Ice Queen wants to rule over the twelve clans. She wants Lexa's power. The grounders believe that taking someone's life with your own hands gives you their strength."

"Marcus are you-" Abby began. She turned to face him and saw the sternness in his eyes.

"We can't." Abby said.

"We can't betray her?" Marcus said. "Because she has always honored her alliance with us?"

"We aren't like them Marcus." Abby said. She pulled away from his hand, suddenly disgusted by his touch. "I don't want to change who we are."

"Abby, we aren't safe in the sky anymore." Marcus said. "We have to make tough decisions to survive out here. We have to pick a side."

"Who says we have to do it like this?" Abby said. "Who says we have to be deceptive and ruthless?"

"Did you already forget what Clarke did to the people of the Mountain?" Marcus said.

Abby whipped around. "That was different."

"How?" Marcus said. He stepped forward again but Abby pushed him away.

"Abby, It's just one life."

"It's the Commander's life." Abby said. "She isn't just one person. She's practically a god to them. If we give her up to the Ice Nation they'll come for us."

"The grounders are on the brink of war." Marcus said. "They'll be too busy fighting each other to fight us."

"What about Clarke?" Abby said. "If we give the Ice Nation Lexa, Clarke will never forgive us."

"Clarke's life is more important. We need her back with us." Marcus said. "Eventually, she's understand why we had to do it."

Abby looked into Marcus's eyes, she was shocked to hear these words come from him. He had been one of the biggest supporters of negotiation and peace with the grounders. Perhaps he was more angry from the betrayal on the Mountain than he ever let on before. Even if they did manage to get Clarke back what would be the cost? What else could the lose?

"I don't think Clarke would ever forgive me." Abby said. "We could just lose her again."

Abby looked up to see the Marcus and finally saw the piece of the compassionate Marcus that she had come to know in these past few months. Clarke would hate it, she knew she would but if anyone would know the sacrifices that had to be made down here on the ground, it was Clarke. Sometimes it meant giving up someone she cared about for the greater good. She had done it with Finn, she would understand the decision her mother made about Lexa. At least Abby could only hope she would one day. She had no other choice. She saw no other alternative.

Abby nodded in agreement with Marcus. She still hadn't the strength to say the words aloud as if speaking them made them more devious then they already were. But Marcus understood her decision. He gave Abby a quick kiss on the lips before he turned to leave. Abby grabbed his wrist before he could reach the door.

"Now?" Abby asked.

"She's defenseless." Marcus said. "She came without a guard, I doubt she even has scout's positioned in the forest. This is the best time before they notice her absence."

* * *

Bellamy laid his back against the cool metal of the space station that sat at the center of Camp Jaha. He looked across at a group of soldiers sparing in the glow of a large fire to their backs. Their eloganated shadows seemed to dance in the flicker of the flames as a pair of soldiers circled one another. The rest of the group shouted commands of attack or just jeered their comrades as they watched the fight. The sparing soldiers seemed to ignore the group on the sidelines, their eyes intensely focused on each other, waiting for one to make the next move. The pair remained silent, their breath sprayed out in puffs of white clouds. Even in this cold fall night the men were shirtless and still coated in a thick layer of sweat, indicating that they had been fighting for some time before Bellamy's arrival. The group cheered as one of them finally jumped forward and tried to wrap the other in a headlock but he was easily thwarted and thrown to the ground with a kick to his lower leg. The fallen soldier kicked at his assailants ankles, knocking his opponent off balance as he rolled away and rose to his feet, escaping any further blows. The soldier stepped back into the middle of the sparring ground, a layer of mud now caked his back.

Bellamy could already see the grounder influences in their fighting style. Octavia and Lincoln had been giving a couple of the more adventurous soldiers lessons in grounder fighting techniques. Instead of focusing on fists and strength, the grounders focused on using an enemy's body weight against them. It evened the playing ground in a number of ways. Bellamy remembered watching with pride as Octavia knocked down a 250 pound guard flat on his back.

Bellamy had to admit that his sister's embrace of the grounder culture had worried him a bit. He had always wanted her to find a place to be herself. He wanted her to feel at home but he had wished she had felt at home with him, with their people. She was the only family he had left and he didn't want to lose her too. He wasn't sure he could handle losing anyone else. He wasn't sure he'd ever get used to it.

"Bellamy." Marcus Kane said. He mirrored Bellamy's stance next to him on the wall.

Bellamy nodded in Kane's direction and continued to watch the group of fighters near the fire.

"If you're here to ask me to join the Commander's group heading north, you can save your breath." Bellamy said. "I'm in."

"I actually have other plans in mind for you." Marcus said.

Bellamy eyes shot to Marcus.

"If you think I'm staying behind. You're out of your mind." Bellamy said.

"Don't worry. I still have you traveling North. You're just leaving a little sooner than originally planned." Marcus said.

Bellamy straightened himself and turned his body to completely face Marcus.

"What do you want me to do?" Bellamy said.

* * *

Lexa hadn't yet gotten used to being inside one of these metal structures. She wasn't really sure how the Skaikru could consider this a home. It felt so hollow and empty. Sounds echoed oddly off the metal hull and it all smelled so artificial. When Lexa was at home she slept in the comfort of her furs but when she travelled Lexa liked to sleep in the grass and under the stairs with the cold wind whipping her face. She especially liked sleeping outside during cold nights in the early fall. She loved how the ground would be covered in a thin layer of leaves and create a natural mattress for her back.

The fall had always been her favorite time of year ever since she was little. She loved the color of the leaves as they drifted from the trees. She loved that no leaf seemed to be the same but they all had matching shades of yellow, red or orange that seemed to blend in to the horizon of a fresh day. When she was little she and Costia would push piles of leaves together until they formed large soft mountains just so they could jump into it. They had spend hours outside in the mornings before Lexa had to start her training sessions and Costia had her classes. Even when trainings had left Lexa's muscles sore and tired they still made time to jump and giggle until their stomachs hurt. It was a time when she was young and didn't grasp the choices she would have to make as they grew older.

Lexa had to steady herself against the smooth metal table. The memories of Costia had come rushing back so quickly. She had thought she had buried them for good after her death. Though, if she were speaking true, she thought she had tried to bury them long before then. They had made time for one another in their youth but they had been naive to think they would have any sort of future together. Lexa was destined to be a Commander if the spirit had ever needed to chose her. She was always going to be a target of her people's foes and in turn Costia was going to be a target as well. But still Lexa had loved her and she couldn't keep herself away. It was selfish of Lexa and she knew it but still Lexa stole away in the night to visit Costia. Lexa had kept the dreams of a romance alive when she should have squashed it all long before it ever blossomed. She confessed a love she knew she could never honor and she broke a heart she should have never taken.

She had driven Costia away with a betrayal of the heart and right into the arms of the Ice Queen. And now she had done the same to Clarke with a betrayal on the Mountain. But she refused to let the Ice Queen get her way this time. She would walk into the Queen's Palace with an army if she had to.

She thought she had buried all of these regrets and memories long ago but that moment Clarke fell from the sky and marched into her tent everything came rushing back to her. She wasn't sure what it all meant but she knew she felt something she thought she'd never feel again. It was something she wasn't supposed to feel again. She knew it would hinder her decision making. She knew those feelings could hurt her people. Worst of all those feelings could hurt Clarke. These were especially tumultuous times. The alliance with the Skaikru had earned Lexa a lot of enemies. The burning of her warriors at the dropship had made Clarke known and the eradication of the Mountain Men had made her notorious. Clarke was already walking around with a number of targets on her back, the last thing she needed was an association with Lexa painting more targets there. But somehow Lexa had behaved like a silly little child and somehow the hints of her feelings had been obvious enough that members of the Skaikru had noticed it.

And that could only mean that the Queen's spies had noticed as well.

Clarke was in danger because of Lexa. She knew this was all her fault again and she would do what was needed to bring Clarke back. She could do nothing to ease the pain in Clarke's heart caused by all the lives she has taken, but she could bring her home to her family and friends.

There was a soft knock at the door that stirred Lexa from her thoughts.

Lexa took a breath to steady herself before she studied the foreign metal mechanism where a simple handle should have been. She pulled at it and then jumped back as the door slid on its hinges of its own accord. She would never get used to that. She found Bellamy standing in the threshold. She could see an edge of uneasiness in his features and Lexa instantly thought the worst as he pushed into her room, closing the door behind him.

"Have you heard news of Clarke?" Lexa asked.

A flashback of an Ice Queen's messenger carrying Costia's head stole its way into Lexa's mind.

"Oh no." Bellamy said. "No news."

Lexa let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.

Bellamy looked over at the mattress Lexa had pulled onto the floor.

"Not much for beds?" He asked as he noted.

"I hope you don't mind." She said.

As part of her training Lexa had been thouroughly educated in all the diverse grounder traditions here on earth. But the Skaikru were never part of her studies and she found she was still learning their cultures and traditions and she could only hope she wasn't breaking some taboo traditions she was unaware of. These people were so foreign to her.

"You really do care for Clarke, don't you?" Bellamy said.

He still had his back to Lexa as he stared down at the pile of blankets on the floor. He pulled something out from the the pocket of his vest and turned to Lexa holding a white cloth in his hand. Lexa eyed the cloth. She wouldn't have felt threatened by simple piece of fabric but the look in his eyes hinted to something malicious behind it.

Lexa reached for her sword on pure instinct but her fingers fell on air and she looked over to the side of her sleeping corner where she had left her sword as she readied for sleep, the sword still laid in its sheath.

"Seems kind of sloppy." Bellamy said as he followed Lexa's glance to her sword. "That's not like you." He added.

He was right. It wasn't like her.

Bellamy jumped forward and put the cloth to her mouth. An oddly sweet smell filled Lexa's nostrils as she felt herself slowly drifting in and out of consciousness. Lexa's body went limp as Bellamy pulled her body against his, pushing the cloth further and covered the rest of Lexa's face. She inhaled more of the dizzying fumes. The world around her started to spin and she swayed. Her body felt foreign as Bellamy guided it gently to the cold metal floor.

 _It all feels so unnatural_. She thought to herself before everything faded to black.

* * *

Lexa could feel the bitter cold wind whipping against her face. She reached to cover her frozen cheeks but she found her hands were bound. She felt the familiar muscles of her favorite stallion beneath her legs but she wasn't the one holding the reigns. Her feet were bound by the ankles to the sides of his mount, a man's chest was pressed up against her back and with a clench of her jaw the clouds around her groggy mind began to fade as she realized what had happened and who was controlling her favorite stallion.

She wasn't sure which infuriated her more.

They were already much deeper into Ice Nation territory than she had expected. Whatever it was the Skaikru had used to knock her out was strong and no doubt one of their many mysterious and unnatural chemicals.

Lexa could see they were following a well worn path that was surrounded on either side by snow. She knew it wouldn't be very long now.

She had expected the Skaikru to do something stupid, but she hadn't expected them to do something as stupid as this. She had thought they would come for Clarke with as many numbers as they could muster. She had expected them to demand Clarke's safe return with a well armed force standing outside Queen Nia's door. Sending Bellamy alone was a well intentioned gesture but the Queen would take advantage of this weakness.

"You misunderestimate and misunderstand Queen Nia." Lexa said.

She had to practically shout over the howling wind. It caused the front of her head to pulsate with pain as she felt the side effects of the chemicals. She kept speaking anyway. She didn't have time to wait for pain.

"She's more dangerous than you can imagine." Lexa said.

Bellamy looked over at the horizon. He slowed the horse down to a trot but still kept a steady pace. They were close.

"I bet the Ice Queen would say similar things about you." Bellamy said.

"I thought we had an agreement in the war room." She said.

"I thought we had an alliance on the Mountain." He countered.

"Is this some petty revenge mission?" She said. "Because its going to get you killed."

"We'll see about that." Bellamy whispered into her ear.

She slammed her head back hard into his face. She heard a satisfying crunch. Bellamy pulled at the reigns and her stallion came to a halt. She felt pressure on the small of her back. It inched closer and closer. She remained still as a statue as she felt the knife puncture her skin. She refused to give Bellamy the satisfaction of hearing her stir or cry out at the pain. Bellamy stopped as soon as the knife drew blood.

"You will go to the Queen alive." Bellamy said. "Or you will go to her in pieces. It doesn't matter to me."

Lexa remained still. "It matters to her." She said.

She could feel a drop of blood flow down her side. Bellamy pulled the knife from her, she heard the snap as Bellamy clipped it back onto his belt.

"You owe us." Bellamy said. There was a hint of venom in his voice. He spit over Lexa's shoulder, she could see the snow turn pink with his blood. Bellamy kicked the sides of Lexa's Stallion and took off at a full gallop.

She watched as the peaks of the watch towers came into view and felt herself in awe of the pure size of Queen Nia's defensive structure. The Commander's tower in Polis was easily ten times the height of Queen Nia's highest tower. But this palace was a defensive masterpiece. The warriors that spoke of it could not truly grasp it's strength, it was something that could be only understood in person. Like most of the buildings still left on Earth, this castle was from the old world. It had existed before the civilized world fell apart. Lexa had to give Queen Nia credit, she had put a lot of her resources into maintaining her home. Hints of repair were shown in the many discolored bricks that littered the wall.

Bellamy slowed her stallion as they came upon massive wooden doors. The doors stood at least two horses tall and six horses wide. There were no guards stationed on the outside of the doors, nor did there need to be. The doors were thick and powerful and with her scout towers, her warriors must have seen Bellamy and Lexa approaching from miles away. An army of two wasn't going to penetrate these walls. Queen Nia was comfortable behind her walls.

Lexa had counted on that.

Bellamy paced Lexa's stallion back in forth in front of the main entrance. It seemed as though he had expected some sort of welcoming party and had no idea what to do when it wasn't there.

"You could try knocking." Lexa said.

He shoved her from behind.

"I don't really find you all that threatening." Lexa said. She had brought men twice his size to their knees and when she didn't have her sword.

A mechanical sound filled their ears and the wooden doors creaked as they were slowly raised. Bellamy dismounted from Lexa's stallion, leaving Lexa tied to the sides of her horse. He grabbed the reigns and led the horse to a group of guards that came past the door to greet him. The guard in the center held up a hand and Bellamy stopped.

"I am Bellamy Blake of the Sky People. I've come with a message for the Ice Queen." He said.

The guards stared at him and then looked up at Lexa. She could see the smiles on their faces as they recognized Bellamy's guest.

"Then you may deliver it to her yourself." The Ice Queen said. She separated the line of guards with a simple flick of her wrist and walked down the center.

In the few times Lexa had met Nia, she had always seemed much older than her claimed age. Lexa had always wondered if the cold had done something to the citizens of Ice Nation to make them age quicker. In Lexa's teachings she had learned that the Ice Nation had been a very different clan than the one it had become under Nia's rule. The Ice Nation was know to value wisdom and negiotation while all the other clans were more prone to action and violence. Queen Nia had come to power by overthrowing an elderly queen and, at the time, Ice Nation was one of the most respected of the twelve local clans. They were the most educated clan thanks to a stockpile of old world books and artifacts. They hung onto the history of the old world and spoke often of the things they had studied. The Ice Nation elders had been welcomed to any outsiders' fire. They were known to tell intricate and exciting tales that were so rooted in history and fiction that it was hard to tell them apart.

It was when Queen Nia had taken over that things inside the Ice Nation had quickly taken a dark turn for its people. Instead of fairy tales, stories of the Queen's ruthlessness had travelled through the campfires. The Queen had taken many of those storytellers lives and soon most travelers passing through the Ice Nation didn't even utter her name for fear of being brought up on charges of treason and having their heads sent back to their families.

Queen Nia looked up from Bellamy and laid eyes on Lexa, the smile that graced her lips caused a shiver to run up Lexa's back.

"I see you have brought me a present." The Queen said. She took a step towards the stallion but Bellamy stepped in front, blocking her path to Lexa. The Guards pulled their swords from their sheaths and stepped forward. People have lost their hands for less. However Bellamy's was fortunate, Nia was feeling gracious, she put her hands up to stop her guards.

"I have come to negotiate a trade." Bellamy said. "You return Clarke and I will give you the Commander."

Nia shifted her eyes to Bellamy with an amused smile on her face. Bellamy had bitten off more then he could chew and the Skaikru had underestimated Queen Nia's ruthlessness. She would never let a trade happen. It would undermine her authority.

Nia let out a laugh and Lexa watched as Bellamy shifted uneasily on his feet. His hand landed on his handgun, still in its holster on his belt. Lexa made a clicking noise with her mouth. Bellamy turned his head just enough that Lexa knew he could see her shake her head slowly and deliberately. Even if he managed to take out a few guards, he would have been easily overpowered and killed on the spot. Even he knew that. Pulling his weapon here, on the Ice Queen, would cost him his head. She wasn't sure what the Ice Queen had in store for him inside of those walls but if he held on for just a little bit longer maybe they could find a way out of the mess the Skaikru had made of this plan.

Then again, maybe he was better off dying right here in the snow.

Bellamy sighed but put his hands up and allowed the guards to seize him.

"I don't do negotiations." The Ice Queen said as the guards wrestled Bellamy to the ground.

The next guards pulled Lexa off her horse and she felt hard onto the frozen ground. She let out a grunt as the guards pulled her to her feet.

"It's so great to see you again, Heda." Nia said.


	12. Bodies

**/ Author's Note: Thanks to all that read review and leave feedback. I really appreciate hearing what you guys feel about the story! Keep it coming!**

Clarke was alone. The early morning dew hung low over an open field. The grass showed a bright array of green and purple, hinting towards the early beginnings of spring. A season she had yet to witness during her short time on the ground. She could see the white water of a waterfall breaking in the distance. The sounds of the rushing water were so loud she could even hear its echoes from her spot in the middle of the field. The sounds were soothing in her ears.

The early morning sky was cloudless, a beautiful shade of light blue. The sun was just breaking over the horizon, the birds greeting it with their morning song.

It was the earth she had expected and the earth she had longed for from her solitary cell on the Ark. She had seen it in her dreams and drawn it on the walls. There was peace in this field. She could feel it. She was surround by life both old and new. There was no anger here, there was no survival, the was no violence, there was just the serenity of nature.

She laid down in the tall grass and just listened to the birds sing their songs and waited for the sun to reach the midpoint in the sky where it would warm her face. She was in no hurry, she had no obligations. She had no mouths to feed but her own. She had no lives to protect. She had no wars to fight or rescue missions to plan. She was truly free.

She closed her eyes for what she thought was a few minutes and felt a chill wash over her. She could see the darkness settling behind her closed eyes. She opened them to see the clear sky now overcast with dark shadows. A thick fog had settled onto the field and clouded her vision. She remembered the acid fog from the Mountain and instinctively checked her skin for boils but found none. This fog was a simple act of nature. The Mountain Men were too far gone to disturb the peace of this field.

That thought did nothing to calm Clarke's nerves. She could barely see her hands in front of her. She could no longer hear the rushing water from the falls and she couldn't hear the songs of the birds in the forest. This fog has closed her off from the beautiful world she wanted to be a part of.

She rose to her feet and took several steps. Her feet kicked something on the ground causing Clarke to stumble forward. It was soft but solid and once she regained her balance she turned to where the figure had been, the fog so thick she could only make out shapes just in front of her feet. She lowered herself as she tried to see what had tripped her. She reached out cautiously with her hand and felt the warmth of a body.

The fog seemed to dissipate of its own accord and she saw the blistered body of Atom in front of her. He cried out, begging someone to kill him between his gasping breaths. His legs twisted and his fingers curled as he tried to fight the pain.

He finally noticed Clarke's presence next to him and he looked up at her.

"Kill me." He begged.

She could barely hear his pleas, they were whispers between his moans.

Clarke was frozen.

She looked around but saw no one through the fog. She was alone. She was powerless. She had nothing to help Atom.

She had no bandages to help seal his open sores.

She had no medicine to help ease his pain.

She had no sauves to help soothe his agitated skin.

Atom let out a gasp and Clarke looked down at a knife plunged into the side of his neck. Her fingers were gripped around the handle, she felt his life blood spill out and down the blade. She felt the warmth on her skin as it coated in her fingers. Atom wasn't the first life she had seen lost since she landed on the ground but it was the first she had taken with her own hands. It was the first time she had plunged a knife into someone's flesh and watched as the life drained from their eyes.

His death had haunted her dreams for many nights afterwards. She could smell his chemically burnt skin in her nightmares. She could hear his pleas. She had no idea how many more lives she would steal after she had taken Atom's. She had no idea how much worse the nightmares would get.

So much blood would eventually coat her hands. Since that night on the Mountain she hadn't been able to close her eyes without being haunted by the faces of the dead.

She thought leaving her friends and family at Camp Jaha would keep the memories of the dead away. She thought that if she didn't have to see reminders of who she saved and the cost of all those lives, she would have been able to sleep at night.

She was wrong.

Running away didn't help.

She was reminded everyday. She was reminded every night.

She only seemed to think of death.

Death followed her everywhere she went.

She only brought a black cloud of pain and suffering to anyone that dared to follow her.

Clarke heard footsteps. She looked up into the eyes of a grounder. She jolted and fell back on her legs. The grounder stepped forward and out of the fog. His chest was bare, revealing the kill marks engraved in his skin and it's only then that Clarke remembers him.

Caliban of the Woods Clan.

He was the first grounder to explain the meaning behind those raised marks grounders bore. He was the first one to speak of his kills like they were some sort of achievement. He wore them like they were medals of honor.

She had killed him when she sliced a scalpel across his neck. Then she covered his mouth so no one would hear his screams and saw the fear and shock in his eyes as his blood poured out from the hole in his neck. She looked down at her hands to see that familar scalpel poking between her fingers, blood dripping from the blade.

Caliban was standing over her, the wound on his neck hung open but there was no more blood left to spill. Caliban's life was the first life she had stolen, not out of mercy but for survival.

It was Caliban or her.

She had spend most of her life by her mother's side. She worked as a healer, easing pain and ending suffering. The scalpel in her hand had been one of her mother's instruments of healing, it felt so wrong to use it to take a life away. Yet it had been so easy. The scalpel was made for precision cuts, it's blade was sharp and it slid through Caliban's neck like butter.

As Caliban slid down against the wall Clarke had realized how human her enemies were. They had bled just like her friends did. No matter how much they bragged of death, they feared it just like everyone else. Caliban was no different. She could see the fear in his eyes. Clarke didn't need a brand across her chest to remember her kills, Caliban's death left it's mark on her. It didn't matter if other people could see it or not. Just like Atom's death, Clarke could feel it. She felt the pain of the lost every day.

There was a burst of light. An orange glow lit up the field and the fog lifted to show a circle of charred bodies surrounding Clarke. They walked as men but there was a hollow blackness where their eyes should have been. Their flesh was completely burned from their bodies, leaving behind charred walking skeletons. They where the remains of the three hundred grounders that died in the fires of the dropship. Clarke could never forget the smell of charred flesh. She still couldn't stand too close to the fires of a simple campfire. She couldn't eat meat charred in campfires without feeling sick to her stomach. The bodies advanced forward, Clarke took a step back before whirling around and seeing that she was surrounded on all sides.

"I had to." She said.

There was just dark skulls where their ears should have been. She doubted they could hear what she had to say but she didn't think it mattered. She doubted the three hundred cared for an explanation for their deaths.

"You would have killed us all!" She said.

She couldn't explain why she kept shouting at them, maybe she could convince herself that what she did was right. Maybe she could convince herself that all those deaths were necessary.

The circle closed in on her and she could still feel the heat of the fire radiating from their charred skin. She covered her head for just a moment as she tried to collect herself. When she looked back up silence had once again filled the foggy field. The scapel had disappeared from her hand. Atom, Caliban and the rest of the charred grounders had disappeared as the fog swept over the field once more.

She rose to her feet. She searched through the fog for any sign of where she should go. She just needed to head south, back to the Camp, back to her mother, back to Raven and Bellamy, back to Octavia and Lincoln, back to Monty and Jasper and everything would be okay. She had gotten so turned around by all the bodies, she didn't know which way was which. The fog had grown too thick, she couldn't find the sun in the sky to use it to guide her home.

Clarke took off running. It didn't matter the direction, she just needed to find her way out. She needed to get away from the bodies and the blood. She barely took ten steps before she ran into someone else. The force of the collision nearly knocked her off her feet. She took in a gasping breath as she looked into the dark eyes of Finn. He was still strapped to the pole the grounders had tied him to the night they planned to execute him for the people he killed in their village.

No matter how hard Clarke tried to convince herself of Finn's innocence. She had seen first hand the damage he had caused. They had floated criminals on the Ark for less and she couldn't disagree with the grounders thirst for revenge. Still it hurt her to see Finn tied and it hurt her to think about the suffering he was going to endure for making such a huge mistake.

"Finn." Clarke tried to say but her voice was barely audible.

Finn had been one of the good guys. She had trusted him with so much of herself. He was a boy Clarke thought she could love.

She had no choice. People had died because of Finn and Finn had to die too. Clarke knew she couldn't be selfish, she needed the alliance with Lexa and the grounders if they were going to save their people from Mount Weather.

"Princess." Finn responded, the worry drained from his face as Clarke wrapped him in a hug.

Clarke kisses him on the lips. The kiss is wet from Clarke's tears and sloppy from her panic. She knows there's not much time before the grounders step forward to pry her away and start their ritual. She's willing to let them have Finn for his crimes but she isn't willing to let him endure their torture. She knows he doesn't deserve that.

Finn lets out a gasp and Clarke pulls back from the embrace. She looks down and sees the blood darkening his shirt from two deep stab wounds in his stomach.

"Why?" He gasps before his head starts to slump over, the binds of rope around his wrists are the only thing keeping him vertical as he lets out his last breath.

Clarke looks down at the knife in her hands. It's a utility knife, small enough to sneak past Lexa and her guards but large enough to cause some serious internal damage with just a few cuts. It caused so much damage that her hand is caked with Finn's blood.

So much of Finn's blood.

She doesn't bother to try to clean off the blood this time. She knows she'll never be able to get rid of it.

She drops the knife and steps backwards, she doesn't cry for him this time either. It won't make a difference. Finn is dead. Tears won't bring him back. Tears won't change the monster she has become.

She can smell the burning bodies again and she doesn't bother to look around in the fog, she knows its the people she abandoned at Tondc. It's the victims of the Mountain Men's missile attack. She had escaped through the tunnels with Lexa and left then all to die. She had convinced herself that Lexa was right, that they needed to protect Bellamy inside the walls of Mount Weather but when she went back and saw all the death and destruction she couldn't believe that was the right thing to do.

Their numbers grow but she doesn't even bother to look up from the feet that are approaching them. It's the people from the Mountain joining them. Cage alongside innocent men, women and children.

"Please stop." She begged them. "Please stop."

It didn't matter what she said. It didn't matter what she did. She would always feel their anger. They would always be there and she could never apologize for stealing their lives away. How many lives was she willing to sacrifice?

When would she stop?

"Clarke." She hears a voice and looks up.

It was Lexa.

The black waves in Lexa's war paint are smudged and faded, it's still mixed with blood from the battle on the Mountain. She stands across Clarke with dark and empty eyes, she seems nothing like the powerful Commander Clarke remembers. Lexa leans forward and cups Clarke's cheek as she kisses her on the lips. It's passionate. Just like that day in Lexa's tent, and once again she almost tricks Clarke into thinking that she actually cares.

Before Clarke can react, Lexa pushes away from the kiss and without another word, she turns her back to Clarke and begins to walk away. Clarke feels that familiar sense of betrayal, she searches her pockets for her knife. For once, she can't find anything.

Still, she searches the ground for the scalpel or the knife she used on Atom, she'd even settle for Finn's utility knife but she has nothing. It doesn't matter, She doesn't know what she'll do when she finds one. Lexa disappears into the fog before Clarke can decide and leaves her with her bodies.

"This is your fault!" She shouts into the nothingness.

She's alone again. The fleeting relief that Lexa had offered her is gone and she has nothing left. She doesn't want the bodies anymore. She doesn't think she can carry them with her for much longer.

She isn't strong enough.

"Come back." Clarke tries to shout after Lexa.

She means to sound angry and assertive but her voice comes out in a squeak. Her body begins to shake.

She hears someone call her name through the fog but it sounds so far away. Clarke searches for the source but she can't find anyone. She isn't sure they're even there.

They keep calling to her anyway. The voice is getting louder, or closer, or both. She recognizes the voice but she doesn't want him to come through the fog. She begs him to leave. She doesn't want to see another knife, she doesn't want more blood on her hands that will never come off.

"Clarke." He calls to her.

Her body shakes again.

Clarke's eyes flutter open and she finds herself in a dark room. The air is damp and a few inches from her face she can make out Bellamy's features.

His nose looks broken. It's twisted in a direction it shouldn't go. She can smell the blood on him and notices the fresh cut on his bottom lip and even in the dim light she can see the fresh bruises on his cheek.

"Bellamy?" She tries to wipe the grogginess from her eyes and mind as she tries to make sense of everything.

She feels pain radiate through her shoulder as she tries to lift her arm.

She remembers the escape in the cart, the guards, and the wolves. Her shoulder aches and she can feel the skin around it burning. It's an early sign of infection. She knows that's not good.

She recognizes the darkness, the dim lighting and the cold stone floor and knows that they must be in the Queen's dungeons.

There was one thing Clarke could not piece together.

"How did you get here?" Clarke asks.

Bellamy lets out a sigh, his shoulders droop and he lets Clarke lean back against the wall as he slides down alongside her. She can't see his face when he is that far away and part of her wonders if that was on purpose.

"I think we made a huge mistake." Bellamy says.

Clarke could almost laugh. They weren't locked in dungeon because they had been making good choices.

There is something else in Bellamy's posture and Clarke almost doesn't want to know but she asks anyway.

"What did you do?"

"I came to speak to the Queen." Bellamy explains. "I came to demand your return."

Clarke can only sigh in response.

"You thought she would just hand me over?" She says after a beat.

"No." Bellamy responds. "We had something we thought the Queen would be willing to trade for, something we knew she wouldn't refuse."

He turns to look at Clarke. Even in the dark she can see the shame in his eyes.

"Let me guess." Clarke says. She is trying to spare Bellamy the embarrassment of having to speak it aloud. "She just took whatever you offered and threw you down here with me?"

Bellamy nodded slowly and deliberately.

Clarke thought about all the things they had left over from the Ark that they could possibly have to offer the Queen. There wasn't much that wasn't destroyed when they crash landed but there were plenty of artifacts stored inside of Mount Weather that the Queen might want. Mount Weather had it's own stockpile of paintings, and sculptures. There were also other things that might have been of interest to the the Queen as well including electronics, gadgets, medicines or what she seemed to want most of all, weapons to use against Lexa.

Clarke's heart jumps into her throat.

"You didn't offer her explosives did you?" Clarke asks.

She knew the Queen wanted anything that could cause damage to the grounders. Anything that Bellamy might have brought could be used to kill as many people as possible.

"I gave her the Commander." Bellamy says stopping Clarke's imagination before it can wander.

The statement catches Clarke off-guard, it takes her a moment to process what Bellamy just said. Clarke assumes she must be still dazed. There's no way she heard Bellamy right.

"The Queen has Lexa?" She asks.

She doesn't expect Bellamy to nod his head but her stomach drops when he nods in affirmation.

The Queen can cause more damage with Lexa captive then she could with any missile or bomb. The Ice Queen could destroy the coalition from the inside out and plunge the clans into a violent and lengthy war. There's no way her people at Camp Jaha could escape that violence.

So many thoughts run through Clarke's mind at once and its hard to make sense of it all.

It's the single worst scenario she could imagine.

"Why would you do this?" Clarke asks.

She thought Bellamy knew better. She had grown to trust him the most and she knew he could make the hard decsions when they needed to be made. Her life was not worth the Commander's, so many would die because of this. They should have left her with the Ice Queen, even if that meant her death.

"To get you back." Bellamy responds like its the simplest of answers. Like every decision they have made on the ground has been so black in white. Like there's good and bad, night and day and there has never been anything in between.

And it infuriates her.

She slams him hard in the chest with the fist of her good arm before she rises to her feet. She sways a bit and Bellamy offers his hand to steady her but she uses the wall instead.

She can't even touch him.

"What we're you thinking?" Clarke shouts.

"I was thinking you were going to die." Bellamy says. And there he goes again talking like all of the decisions are so simple. Like saving one life won't cost them thousands. "When Lexa came to us-"

"Wait." Clarke holds her hands up to stop him. She takes a breath because she feels like she might be sick.

"Lexa came to you?" Clarke repeats.

Bellamy rises to his feet. He holds his hand up in an unspoken apology.

"She came to you?! " Clarke asks again. Her voices echoes off the walls of their cell.

The guilt is evident in Bellamy's face. She can't even look at him. She pushes off the wall with her good arm and stumbles to the other side of the cell. It isn't nearly far enough, still a wave of dizziness hits her, she has to use the wall to steady herself again.

"She sent scouts to find you." He says to her back. "When Indra's scouts came back she rode all night to meet with the council. She told us about the Ice Queen and how much danger you were in."

Clarke places her forehead against the wall. She finds the cold stone soothing to the spinning in her head.

"And you thanked her by chaining her up and dragging her up here to trade her life for mine?" Clarke spoke into the wall but she knew Bellamy heard her.

"We had to do something." Bellamy says. "You're still one of us. Even if you abandoned us, too."

She whipped around to face Bellamy, ignoring the way the room spins when she moves too fast.

"We needed you, Clarke." Bellamy says. "You walked away from us just like Lexa did on the Mountain."

She can see the resentment in his eyes. She can see the anger. She hadn't thought about how the Camp needed her. The battle was over, she had done her job and her people were safe. That moment all she could feel was her own pain. She hadn't thought about the others. She hadn't thought about Monty and Bellamy, who had been in the control room when they irradiated the Mountain. She hadn't thought about her mother who had been strapped to a gurney and had a drill in her leg. She hadn't even thought of Jasper who held one of their allies in his arms as her skin blistered in the poisonous air. So many of them had lost so much.

It's not very different from when Lexa walked away from them on the Mountain.

In some ways it feels much worse.

She walked away because it hurt. She walked away because she couldn't look at her people without thinking of the death that surrounded her.

She had been spending months thinking about nothing but them. She had sacrificed herself to save them so many times. How much more could she give up?

But Lexa had always displayed this unwavering strength for her people. She seemed to only think of them.

Lexa's decision was ruthless, but at least it was never selfish.

"I'm sorry." Clarke says.

It's the only thing she can say. She can't change anything that's happened. She can't change the person she has become.

Bellamy smiles at her. It's a wide and sincere simile that Clarke remembers so well. It's the kind of smile that had always made Clarke smile back.

Bellamy steps forward and wraps his arms around Clarke. His arms wrap around hers and he squeezes her so tight that she let's out a painful cry as the skin of her shoulder pulls tighter. Bellamy jumps back and his eyes instantly drift back to the bloody mess on Clarke's shoulder.

"What happened?" Bellamy asks.

His hand hovers over the wound. The bleeding had stopped in Clarkes sleep but it left behind a red stained shirt with the fabric torn to pieces. Through it she could already see the discoloration around the edges of the wound. Her skin was red and raw, her body's attempt to try and fight off the infection. She needed to get it cleaned or she'd be in trouble.

"Wolf." Clarke says.

Bellamy does a double take. He looks up into Clarke's eyes and frowns when he confirms that she isn't making a joke.

"You were attacked by a wolf?" Bellamy says.

There is a commotion at door and it begins to pull open. Bellamy steps in front of Clarke, putting himself between Clarke and the four guards that step inside.

The guards already have their weapons drawn and pointed at Bellamy, there's nothing much he can do against them.

The first guard is wearing a light blue sash that seems to indicate some sort of leadership position.

"You're coming with us." He says.

He produces two lengths of thick cord from his belt and gestures towards Bellamy.

"Against the wall." he commands.

They don't give Bellamy a second to respond. Two guards are on him, pinning against the wall while the lead guard wraps a cord around his wrist.

Another is on Clarke, she let's out a grunt as pain radiates through her shoulder as she's slammed against the wall and her wrists are pulled together around her back and tied together.


	13. Reunion

**/* Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in updating. I wanted to publish every Sunday but traveling and family things have gotten a bit in the way of that so here's one a bit earlier since I'm behind. As always a big thanks to all the Read, Review and follow! */**

Bellamy struggled against the bindings around his wrists and earned another rough shove from the guard as they made their way up a set of narrow stairs. He didn't pay much attention to their surroundings, or his steps as he stumbled forward. His eyes instead were fixated on Clarke's hunched figure in front of him. She was more being pulled by the guards since she seemed to be unable to walk on her own two feet without tripping. Bellamy wasn't sure how long ago Clarke had gotten that bite on her shoulder but he could see the infection in the reddened skin surrounding it and he could see the pain on her face when she made the smallest of movements. When she could, Clarke kept the arm of the wounded shoulder fixed tightly against her body in an attempt to limit its motion but he could see Clarke was struggling with pain now that her hands were tied behind her back.

Clarke was in trouble.

He needed to get her out of here and he needed to get her back to her mother at Camp Jaha. He was sure all Clarke needed was some antibiotics, some antiseptic and a little rest and she'd be back to normal.

He cursed himself for thinking that the Ice Queen would be so willing to honor a fair trade of the Commander for Clarke. There were so many politics and leaders at play that they obviously didn't understand and it was clear that Kane had been mistaken when he thought that delivering Lexa to the Queen's Palace was the solution to their problems. It only seemed to create more. If Lexa was more valuable to the Queen dead than she was alive, the Queen would have killed her right outside the gates of her castle, but instead the Queen brought her into her fortress's walls. That meant that the Queen had some plan for the Commander. That all didn't matter. Bellamy just wanted to know if Clarke and himself figured into that plan, or if they'd finally be released.

Maybe there was information that the Commander had, maybe there was something the Queen wished to learn from Lexa or maybe there was some way for the Queen to extract that Commanderr Spirit from the her manually. He didn't still fully understand the Grounder belief system around all of that but her understood it was routed around reincarnation. Maybe the Ice Queen wished to gain the Commander spirit so she could lead the clans herself.

That's all this world seemed to be, one struggle for power after another and he worried that they would once again get caught in the crossfire of another war.

He didn't really care what the Queen did with Lexa, as long as he could get Clarke safety home. He was sick of dealing with the grounders, their traditions, their politics and their betrayals.

The guard pushed them forward into a large open room. The room held an intricate skylight that was patched with different shades of clear and white glass. Bellamy could see that the sun was past the midpoint in the sky and he knew that he had been left down in the dungeons for more than a day. They walked across a floor that was tiled in an intricate stone design. The patterns were a little mismatched and repaired with different colored stones but he could still make out the twisting triangular pattern etched into the floor. It seemed odd that the grounders paid attention to something as menial as a decorative floor when they had so many more things to do. They were making designs in the floor while the people at Camp Jaha were simply trying to maintain food supplies.

Bellamy took another step forward before a guard grabbed his shoulder to stop his movements and that's when he saw the Queen seated on a throne encrusted with shimmering gems. The passing sun hit the stones on one of the legs and it caused a rainbow of colors to sparkle onto the floor around the throne. The Queen sat patiently, the pattern behind her matched the symbols the guards and warriors wore on their chests and arms and he knew it was the symbol of the Ice Nation. The guards and Queen remained motionless. The only sound was The Queen's fingers thrumming against the armrest. Bellamy looked back at Clarke, she moved slowly on shaking knees, the guards trailed slowly behind her offering her no assistance as she moved under the Queen's curious eye.

Bellamy looked towards the Queen and that's when he first noticed Lexa standing at attention next to the throne. Lexa's back was straight, her form regal and proud even with her legs shackled and attached to a long chain connecting the irons on her legs to handcuffs on her wrist. Bellamy caught sight of the sudden glances the Commander cast towards Clarke but her face was rigid, her expression remained emotionless even as she watched Clarke struggle to remain on her feet she finally stopped to stand at Bellamy's side.

The Queen was flanked by half a dozen guards, most of them surrounded the Commander. Bellamy had always seen Lexa's guards as more of a tradition than a necessity. He had heard about the Commander's actions in battle and much like Octavia, the Commander was small in statue but was known to be fierce in battle. She carried herself with an air of comfort and confidence that he had seen mimicked in his own sister, but he couldn't say the same for the Ice Queen. He could tell by the sheepish glances the Ice Queen sent The Commander's way that she lived in constant fear of an attack, especially with the Commander so very close.

In comparison, Lexa's face bore no expression. She barely offered Bellamy a glance and when she did Bellamy couldn't look her direction for very long with the fire he saw beneath those eyes. He hadn't expected a renewed alliance to blossom out of the way he had betrayed her. He didn't care to have one either. It was Clarke who was so desperate to befriend the grounders and his sister that had been so desperate to be adopted by them. He belonged with the Sky People. He never had a reason to trust the Grounders and thought it had been a desperate move to trust them that night on the Mountain and a worse move to trust that they wouldn't betray them again.

Bellamy noticed something change in Lexa's expression when Clarke's knees gave out from underneath her. Clarke barely shot her arms out in time to stop her face from slamming against the hard stone. The bad shoulder had taken the brunt of the fall and Clarke let out a gasp at the pain. Bellamy tried to push forward to help Clarke but the guards grabbed him on both sides, they pulled him back in place and another guard lifted Clarke roughly to her feet. Bellamy could hear from her restrained gasp that she was trying, and failing, to hide the extend of the injury. As Bellamy glanced back up towards the throne he could tell by the smile on the Queen's face, that she had taken notice.

Lexa's face had turned back to stone just as the Queen turned her glance to gauge her reaction. The Commander staired straight ahead as if her eyes refused to acknowledge the display that had just occurred in front of her. He wasn't sure what he had expected when Lexa had seen Clarke but it sure wasn't this reaction. Bellamy wasn't sure if he was really believing his eyes, he had seen too many hints of affection from Lexa in the few times he had seem them interact but it seemed as if those feelings had all subsided. Had Lexa been lying this whole time? Was her confession in the war room just some sort of act?

Bellamy could see Clarke steel herself as she lifted her head and locked eyes with the Ice Queen. She faltered a little when she spotted Lexa in chains on the side of the throne but Lexa did nothing to acknowledge Clarke's stare. Even Bellamy could see the dejection in Clarke's eyes.

The Queen watched the exchange between the Lexa and Clarke with the most curiosity. Her eyes flickered between the pair and a smile grew on her face when she saw the pained expression on Clarke's face.

"Is there a reason behind me being here or did you simply want me to stand here all day as witness to your daily procedures?" Lexa said.

The Queen glanced over at her, she gave a nod to one of her guards and he pushed Lexa forward until she was standing in line with Bellamy and Clarke.

"I just simply wanted to have a conversation with our fearless Commander." The Queen said.

The Queen threaded her fingers in her lap and the smile on her face was starting to make Bellamy shift with unease. There was some plan behind the menace in the Ice Queen's eyes and it was troubling.

"I don't remember any of our past conversations requiring binds and shackles." Lexa said.

There wasn't an ounce of concern or worry in The Commander's tone. If he didn't see The Commander bound with his own eyes he would have sworn that the roles were reversed and Lexa was the one in control of the situation.

It didn't seem to phase the Queen, a smile remained plastered on her face. The Queen simply nodded in the direction of a guard and the guard started forward, He lifted a large wooden stick that he had strapped to his belt. Bellamy saw Lexa straighten her back as she prepared for the blow but the guard walked right past her and instead turned to stop in front of Clarke. He brought it down across her wounded shoulder with a flick of his arm. There was a sickening crunch. A strangled cry escaped Clarke's lips before she crumpled to the floor.

Bellamy pushed forward, his fist raised to connect with the nose of the guard but others had jumped forward to restrain him. The guards rained blows in the struggle to contain him, a few fists landed on his twisted nose until blood was pouring from it once more. It took three guards to keep him from breaking free and wrapping his hands around the neck of the guard with the stick. They dragged him backwards, away from Clarke and from his new angle he could see both Clarke and Lexa. Lexa's face remained as rigid as always. Her eyes focused forward. She focused on anything but Clarke's crumpled form on the stone.

"I'll kill you." Bellamy threatened.

He wasn't sure if that was directed towards the guard with the stick, the Ice Queen on her throne or the motionless Commander. He'd take his anger out on any or all of them if he could get to them.

Even he knew his threats were empty, he was surrounded by guards armed with sticks and swords, even if he managed to struggle free of the few that held him, there were twelve more to take their place. He was powerless but he knew he couldn't just give up and leave Clarke to her fate. He had to protect her. He needed to protect her.

Clarke had just rose to her feet when the Queen nodded again and the guard brought the stick down for another strike. The dull crack of wood against bone and flesh echoed around the stone walls but nothing was worse then the scream that escaped Clarke's lips. She fell once more, the wound on her shoulder had opened up, coating her already soiled shirt with a fresh layer of her own blood. Clarke let out several heavy breaths before she pushed herself up to her knees.

Lexa remained as if the sounds of torture weren't so obvious just over her shoulder. As she would remain apathetic to the screams of anyone behind her. Instead of looking at Clarke, Lexa's eyes remained fixed on the Queen as Clarke struggled to push herself up with her one good arm, blood dripped onto the floor forming little splotches of red on the gray stone pattern.

"Is there anything you wish to gain from this torture?" Lexa said.

Lexa sounded more inconvenienced than anything else. Bellamy felt anger boiling over inside of him. Everything Lexa had said about loving Clarke had been a lie. Abby was right, Lexa had been using it as a decoy to lure their army away from Camp Jaha, Lexa must have been planning an attack. That was the only explanation. If she loved Clarke she wouldn't just stand by and let her be beaten like this.

"Clarke was a welcomed guest before she cost me a loyal servant and a prisoner." She said. "This is justice."

Lexa's head finally turned just the slightest bit, Bellamy knew Lexa could see Clarke from the corner of her eye.

"Always making your dogs do your dirty work, Nia." Lexa said as she faced the Ice Queen once more.

The guards lifted Clarke to her feet again and held her steady before another blow was rained down on her shoulder. Clarke scream wasn't as loud as the others had been and it worried Bellamy more. Clarke was limp in their arms as they lifted her once more. She seemed alert but her body had stopped cooperating with her. Her chest heaved with heavy breaths as she tried to fight the pain she had to have been feeling. The Queen's head tilted and she studied Lexa as if she were searching for something. She didn't seem to find what she was looking for before she turned her attention to one of Clarke's guards and opened her mouth to issue another command before Lexa interrupted.

"And why is my attendance required for this torture session?" Lexa said. "I was not part of whatever crime you accuse the Sky Commander of committing."

The Queen's smile wavered. She studied Lexa for a few long moments before she responded.

"Surely, the Commander should oversee justice that is dealt out to all her subjects." The Queen said with a hiss. She whispered something to the guard closest to her and he jumped down from the platform before rushing out the main door.

"I do not have time to bear witness to every penance dealt by the leaders of the Twelve Clans." Lexa answered. She spoke as you would to a child and the Queen didn't seem to take very kindly to that.

"I felt like this one was a particular case you would like to oversee. The rumors of your relationship with the Sky Commander have spread even to the snowy mountains of Ice Nation." The Queen said. She smiled like a cat with a mouse caught between it's claws.

Lexa let out a laugh."I am Commander of the Twelve Clans, I have plenty blondes to take to bed. The Sky Commander is more than disposable." Lexa said.

Bellamy pulled at the guards that restrained him again, he was certain he was going for The Commander's throat this time.

"You do seem to have a thing for blondes." The Queen said. "If I remember correctly, Costia had been a blonde too, hadn't she?"

The rigid look on Lexa's face finally transformed to one of rage. It was the first open expression of emotion he had seen from the Commander.

"But after I chopped off her head, her hair had gotten so soaked in her own blood that I think I may be mistaken." The Queen said with a casual shrug of her shoulders.

Lexa stepped forward but not before six swords were unsheathed and at her throat. She stilled her movements but the swords still hung at her neck, keeping her frozen in place.

"At least I gave you one last opportunity to wake up to her beautiful face." The Queen said. "Tell me what did you end up doing with her head? Did you keep it as a reminder of what happens to the blondes that you take to bed?"

Bellamy didn't have to know much about this Costia to know the mention of her name had struck a nerve with the Commander. The furiosity in Lexa's eyes had taken on a new level. If only she had reacted that same way when Clarke was being tortured. Maybe this had all been some sort of revenge mission for the Commander, the Queen taking Clarke hostage had just given her an angle.

There was a clank metal and an echo of boots. Bellamy noticed a guard enter the room carrying a large axe. The large metal blade reflected in the light from the sun as he passed under the skylight.

"Do you have somewhere to be Commander?" The Queen's voice broke Bellamy from his distraction.

Bellamy glanced over at Lexa, she was looking straight up at the skylight where they could just make out the suns position in the sky. It was one of the few ways to really know the time down on the ground.. The Commander merely smiled in response to the Queen's questioning.

"It just didn't seem like you to miss a meal. It must at least be lunch time." Lexa said.

The Queen seemed genuinely perplexed by the Commander. "It's well past midday, Commander."

Lexa's smile only grew in response.

"Excellent." She said.

The guards pulled Clarke forward, pushing her down to her knees and jerk in her head. They brushed her hair aside to reveal the nape of her neck. The guard walked forward with the axe resting lazily on his shoulder.

The realization hit him.

Bellamy pulled at the guards but they had already anticipated it, and their grips on his arm and shoulder tightened. He wasn't going to be able to free himself and he wasn't going to be able to do anything while they executed Clarke right in front of him.

Behind his wall of bodies Bellamy could hear the Queen speaking to The Commander.

"She cost me a prisoner. Who's life I planned to take. So I will take hers instead. That is justice, is it not Commander?" The Queen said.

"Jus drein jus daun." The Commander said. Blood must have Blood.

Her response was barely audible.

"No!" Bellamy called out.

But his voice fell on deaf ears. He could no longer see Clarke, he couldn't find her face between the wall of arms and bodies holding him back. He just wanted to see her one last time. He just needed to break free so he could help.

Clarke didn't speak or make a sound in response to The Commander's approval of her death sentence. He couldn't imagine what was going through her head. She didn't deserve this. Clarke didn't deserve any of this. He knows a part of her would accept it. That She blamed herself for all of the deaths that have been happening around them but she did what she had to do to survive. The Mountain. The Dropship. They did what they had to do. They all did.

Bellamy tried to fight again. He mustered all the strength he had left. He wasn't strong enough. His hands were rubbed raw from pulling at the rope that kept his hands bound. His chest was heaving in heavy breaths from exertion. He could feel his own blood starting to coat his arms. But he knew if he could just free them he could get an advantage on the guards and wrestle the axe from the executioner.

He wasn't going to watch Clarke die.

There was a commotion at the door, Bellamy could hear someone shouting, the door was pullled open with an echoing slam and feet scurried across the stone.

"My Queen!" Someone called out, He couldn't see the new figure but Bellamy could hear him gasping in air.

The Queen let out a sigh. "When have I ever permitted disturbances during meetings in the Throne Room?"

"The Skaikru camp has been laid to waste." Bellamy heard the man shout.

He must have misunderstood. Camp Jaha had been fine when he left. There wasn't an army nearby, he would have seen it when he traveled North through the woods with Lexa's body slumped over her stallion. He had just been there a couple of nights ago, everyone was fine.

"How?" The Queen asked.

"A attack from a grounder force." The scout said. "They must have penetrated the gates sometime in the dead of night. They had the first fires burning by mid-morning."

It didn't make sense. It had to have been a massive force to take down Camp Jaha so quickly. His people were armed and well defended. Unless Lexa had ordered the attack and planned on using herself as a diversion and giving Kane and Abby a false sense of security in her absence. Or Abby and Kane had sent an army behind Bellamy and Lexa just in case, and they grounders had taken advantage of the weakness to take over the camp. It made no sense. Even minimal forces should have held the Camp for at least a day. It couldn't be true.

"How many of the Skaikru were lost?" The Queen said.

"We believe all of them, my Queen." He said. "The fires still burn strong in the camp, we have yet get close enough to see any survivors but we didn't notice anyone escaping."

Bellamy could see the look of shock on the Queen's face turn to anger as her eyes found Lexa in front of her.

"You don't think I have my own spies, Nia?" Lexa said. "I know that you have been looking for the launch codes to the Mountain Men's missiles since the day they fell. I know the destruction you would cause with such a weapon and all the lives that would be lost if you managed to convince the Skaikru to join forces with you."

"You knew Clarke would have never allowed that." Bellamy said.

He looked over to Clarke and saw that she was still on her knees, her eyes were fixated on the floor.

Bellamy's eyes turned to Lexa as she continued to defend her attack order.

"Eradicating the Skaikru was the only way to ensure they safety of my people. You are the only one's that still have knowledge of the Mountain Men's technology." She said.

Bellamy found the Lexa's eyes on him.

"And after you execute that last of the Skaikru, we can bury the Mountain once and for all." Lexa said. "We can move on from that dark time in our history. Our people live in peace."

The Queen waved off the guard with the axe. He stepped backwards, dropping the axe to the side and several other guards lifted Clarke to her feet. Even while standing her head remained focused on the stone at her feet.

The Queen remained still for several moments, she pinched the bridge of her nose as she concentrated on her thoughts. The Commander was obviously a step ahead of the Ice Queen and it had thrown her for a loop. Part of Bellamy hoped that the Queen just decided to execute the Commander instead, there was nothing more he wanted then for Lexa to be dead. He thought about all the people they had left behind at Camp Jaha and all of his life that was left in that ship and it all was just burning.

Bellamy thought about his sister Octavia and hoped that Lincoln and her had managed to escape. He didn't have much hope for anyone else. Raven was barely mobile even with her new leg. She wouldn't have been able to escape a healthy grounder warrior especially if they had snuck into camp in the dead of night. Kane would have fought until his dying breath to keep Camp Jaha, as would have Monty and the rest of the delinquents. He knew if it was true and the Camp had fallen, they had fallen with it. He knows that he would have done the same if he were there.

Her and Clarke were the last one's left. They had been almost wiped out just as they had wiped out the people of the Mountain.

"So you have brought me to an execution that isn't going to happen?" Lexa said.

The Queen merely smiled in response but this smiled didn't carry the same confidence that it once had. The Commander had made the Queen uncomfortable, that was obvious.

"Take them to the dungeons." The Queen said.

The guards pulled Clarke to her feet and pulled her away, they grabbed Bellamy by both his arms and started to drag him away before the Queen barked out another command.

"Oh and lock Heda down with them." She said. "I'm sure they have some things they'd like to…discuss with her."

With that the guards pulled all three of the Queen's prisoners from the room and pulled them back towards the hall that led to the dungeons.

* * *

As soon as the guards shoved them inside the cell, Clarke slouched down against the closest wall, her legs were too weak to carry her weight and the pain in her shoulder was excruciating. The blows delivered by the Queen's guards had opened up the scabs that covered the festering wound, it only made things worse. She couldn't move it without a stabbing pain radiating the length of her entire arm. She was battling just to keep her eyes open, afraid if she let her eyes close, she might not be able to open them again.

She doesn't even know if its a battle worth fighting.

She has no one left to fight for anymore. There was no Camp Jaha to return to, Lexa had commanded her warriors to burn it to the ground. She had spent so long running away from them but now that they were actually gone she wanted nothing more than to have them back.

A surge of adrenaline passed through her and Clarke managed to push herself on to her feet. She made her way to Lexa. Rage was the only thing that kept her upright. Clarke lifted the arm or her good shoulder. She wrapped her fingers around the Commander's neck. With more strength then she thought she had, she managed to push Lexa up against the far wall. She was more surprised that Lexa had let her do it.

Clarke could hear Bellamy calling to her but she couldn't comprehend anything he tried to say. She just locked eyes with the woman who murdered her people and her grip tightened just enough to cause Lexa a bit of discomfort, but not enough to block her breathing. The larynx was just a fragile hollow muscle and Clarke could feel it loosen and tighten under her grasp. She was just a person. Like the rest of them. She was just a mess of organs and blood but to her people she was a god. This body produced the commands that order the destruction of her camp. It ordered her warriors to abandon Clarke and her people at Mountain Weather. It has stood still when the Queen ordered her death.

Clarke's gripped tightened further, she could feel Lexa throat tighten as she swallowed.

Her discomfort was obvious but Lexa's hands were still planted firmly at her side. She didn't make a move to defend herself. Clarke could still hear Bellamy behind her. He was just as confused by Lexa's lack of action as Clarke was. Lexa was a trained warrior and much stronger than a one armed Clarke could possibly be, but for some reason she was allowing this to happen and Clarke couldn't really figure out why.

She could a hint of something in Lexa's eyes. After everything that has happened Clarke didn't dare call it trust but she can't find a better word for it. It all doesn't make sense. The Commander is ruthless and unforgiving but the look in Lexa's eyes remind Clarke more of that day they kissed under the cover of Lexa's tent then of the Commander she had caught a glimpse of on the battlefield.

Clarke released her grip and stepped backwards a couple of steps. Something wasn't right. It didn't make sense.

Her feet gave out from under her as the temporary energy zapped from her body. The surge of adrenaline her body had been able to produce was gone and the pain was radiating through her body once more. She couldn't stop herself as she collapsed to the ground. Arms were around her waist and Clarke was thankful for them. They prevented Clarke's head from slamming against the hard stone. She looked up into Lexa's green eyes then they slowly faded away.


	14. Slow Burn

**/* Author's Note: I'm sorry Updates Have Taken So Long, Life has gotten the better of me :( I'll try to get my ahead of chapters again and post more regularly. Once again thanks to those that read and review I really appreciate the feedback and knowing that you guys and gals are enjoying what I'm putting together.*/**

Octavia knew she should feel some sense of loss at the sight of the burning and twisted metals of Camp Jaha. She knew she should feel like something was missing when she looked at the destruction she helped cause but that place had never been her home. Bellamy and her mother hid her in the floorboards and when she was discovered she was treated like a criminal just for being born.

She had always felt at home in the woods down on Earth. She had more in common with the Grounders that lived in them than the Sky People that invaded it.

She still loved her brother and her friends. They were the last strands of the threads that kept her tethered to the Skaikru but she knew she'd never have a place among them. She'd never feel a part of their world no matter how hard Clarke, Bellamy and the others tried to make her feel like one of them. She knew Bellamy hated how at home she felt in the forest. She knew that he feared that he would lose her forever and he had already lost so many people.

They all had.

She heard Lincoln's feet shuffling along behind her. His feet falling sloppily on the fallen leaves at the edge of the trees. His signal to her that he was approaching. She knew he only walked like that so he did not startle her when she was so deep in thought. She loved him even more for being so considerate of the smallest of things.

They watched the thick black smoke billowing up into the sky. She knew it had to be visible for miles around. A symbol of the fall of the Skaikru for all to see. The remnants of the rocket fuel still stored on the ship had caused a massive blaze that burned fast and hot. Octavia could swear she could feel the heat of it from her hilltop spot on the edge of the trees. It was hard to picture how the land, now consumed with fire, could have been home to so many people just hours before.

"You did the right thing." Lincoln said.

It was as if Lincoln could see the conflict in Octavia's head and sometimes she wondered if he did in fact have the ability to read minds. Lincoln was so in tune with other people, Octavia was starting to worry that she had grown so comfortable in his presence that she was subconsciously speaking her thoughts aloud without even realizing it.

"You followed orders." Lincoln spoke again. "The guilt isn't yours to bear."

No matter how often Lincoln said those words, Octavia would still find it hard to believe. Especially when she's watching the fire grow so hot it could melt and twist the metal supports surrounding the camp and tear down the very structures she had helped erect. She can only feel like she had made a huge mistake.

It's the Grounder way. Octavia knows that. The Commander issues orders and you are to follow them, blindly. She guesses that's how it worked in a lot of places. The Chancellor orders a mother to be floated for having an extra child and the engineer presses the button to open the hatch without feeling like a murderer. There are laws. There is honor. There are leaders that decide who lives and who dies and it's their guilt to bear.

Octavia can only think of Clarke and the decision she made to irradiate the Mountain and the decision to burn the Grounders with the fires from the drop ship. How Clarke bears all the guilt so they don't have to. She knows her brother blames Clarke for leaving. She could sense the anger in his voice at ever mention of Clarke's name and knows he blames her for walking away but Octavia can understand Clarke's need to escape. Octavia knows she isn't the only one that finds peace in the woods and peace in nature. The animals, the birds, the forest provide a comfort that the artificial home of Camp Jaha could never give her. She wonders if it's almost a blessing that the camp burns. Maybe it's what needs to happen so they can forget about the people they used to be and become the people they need to be to survive on the land.

They are no longer in the Sky. They are no longer Sky People. They are Grounders now. Just like everybody else.

She wrapped her arms around Lincoln's bicep and leaned in to rest her head against his shoulder. She still hadn't gotten used to how much comfort a simple touch from him could provide. Lincoln seemed to just have this calming nature over her and bring her a sense of peace in even the most conflicted of states. She knew Lincoln could sense her anguish and she knew he would let her sit there for a few moments until the thoughts swimming in her head subsided. He would allow her to sit there for hours if she let him. She also knew they had so much to do and a long way to travel, so she pushed herself up to her feet. Making the choice so he wouldn't have to.

"We should get going." She said.

Lincoln rose and studied her intensely. She couldn't look into his eyes, afraid all of her secrets would fall out and onto him. Lincoln stepped forward and cradled her chin in his hands. He could kill a man with those hands but he still held Octavia's face as he would hold a newborn fawn. Soft and delicate, with the slightest of pressures to let her know she was being held, and that she was safe. He turned her head upwards so their eyes met and now Octavia couldn't look away from him. He didn't say anything. He didn't need to and she appreciated the fact that Lincoln wasn't one to give her false comfort. He just gave her the facts. She was just following orders. She was just doing what she had to do. She didn't have a choice.

He pulls her in for a chaste kiss before he heads back over to the horses that are tied up to a low hanging branch. The horses have taken advantage of the time off to nibble on the grass at their feet. Lincoln strides over to his horse, an all black mare with a thick black mane, and pats her on the side before he inspects the gear tied to the horses rear for loose straps. Octavia does the same for her favorite horse, hers is a brown mare that she has always used for her scouting missions for the camp. The horse is fast and seemed to know the moves Octavia was going to make before she even ordered her to make them. Lincoln had told her that that was common when a horse and it's rider formed a bond. They act as one and it could mean the difference between life and death. He had told her stories of a horse that knew to escape a fierce battle when his rider was incapacitated by arrows allowing them time to recover before diving back into the fray.

Her horse seems more weighted down by baggage and equipment as Lincoln's does and it worries her a bit. She has never traveled with all these supplies and she worries the added weight is harmful to her mare.

"This isn't too much?" Octavia asks.

Lincoln smiles at her like her concern for her horse is the most endearing thing. She isn't trying to be cute, this isn't a joke and Lincoln must see it in her face, or maybe she had spoken her frustration because Lincoln's smile fades quickly and his tone is serious when he finally speaks.

"They can hold a lot more weight then you'd imagine." Lincoln says in response. "You're also lighter than me." He adds as he tighten another strap around the back of the horse. "So your horse has a few more pounds."

It doesn't really do much to comfort her but she knows she doesn't have much of a choice. They have to carry these supplies north either way and they need to get there fast.

"Okay." Octavia says. She jumps up onto her horse and Lincoln mimics her on his own.

"We're going to have to make up some time." Lincoln calls back to her before his horse takes off at a full gallop.

Octavia gives her horse a solid pat before she follows.

* * *

Bellamy ran the back of his hand over a sleeping Clarke's forehead. Her skin was still warm to the touch and he doesn't really know why he had expected that to change. He had done nothing different. There was nothing he could do to help her, all he could do was sit there and hope that maybe Clarke would start to feel better but he knew better than that. That wasn't how things worked, Clarke needed to have her wounded cleaned. She needed antibiotics. They needed help.

Bellamy had lost track of time without access to windows or sunlight of any kind. He only had the constant low dim of a torchlight. They had been down there so long that he had grown accustomed to the darkness. He could see everything perfectly in the subtle darkness. He could make out the Commander's slumped form at the far side of the cell. She stood with her back against the wall, facing the pair of them. Part of him wondered if she was too cautious to go to sleep, afraid that Bellamy might attack her in her sleep. He would be lying if he said he wasn't tempted by the idea.

She had ordered the attack on Camp Jaha. She had killed so many of his people. He had lost count of all the friends he had lost a long time ago and he was sick of being a victim to her army. He wanted nothing more than to snap her neck with his bare hands but he also knew that he needed Lexa. Clarke was wounded and if he was going to get Clarke out of this dungeon alive he would need Lexa's help. Once they got out of this cell and he knew Clarke was safe, he was going to kill the Commander. That much he knew.

Bellamy had begun to measure days by meals and guard shift changes.

The guards had delivered their fourth meal. Marking their second day since their meeting with the Queen. Two days since they've learned about the destruction at Camp Jaha. Bellamy had learned that soaking the stale bread in water made it soft enough for a weakened Clarke to eat so he dropped his bread into his metal cup and allowed it to sit for a second as he stirred Clarke awake.

He could see her eyes flutter open in the darkness and she pulled herself up and out of Bellamy's lap with great effort. She sat up and leaned against the wall for support. He pulled the bread out of the water and handed it to Clarke. She took it with a muttered thank you.

Clarke's condition had deteriorated drastically after they learned about the fall of Camp Jaha. Part of Bellamy feels like she had given up again and he had to try his best to keep from letting his frustration show. He couldn't have Clarke quit on him this time, he had no one else left to fall back on. She couldn't leave him here alone.

Bellamy took a sip of what little of the water was left in the small metal cup. It tasted like dirt, the particles of bread floating did nothing to help the flavor but he knows it's the only water he'll see until much later. He brings Clarke's water over to her and she takes it with a shaky hand.

As she pulls it closer the mug tumbles backwards and lands with a metallic echo that carries all around them. The contents of the mug, it's life saving water, spill out onto the floor.

Clarke lets out a frustrated huff and Bellamy watches helplessly as the cup rattles around the floor until it settles against Clarke's foot. She grabs the cup and launches it across the cell. There isn't much strength in her throw, it lands weakly a few feet away with a thunk against the stone.

"Clarke." Bellamy says cautiously.

"Don't." Clarke says in a word of warning.

Bellamy opens his mouth to speak but then thinks the better of it. He watches as Clarke stares down at the soaked bread in her hands and notices how badly her hands still shake. Out of the corner of his eye he can see the Commander still watching them both from her spot, the whites of her eyes a glaring reveal of her focus. Yet the Commander says and does nothing not even as Clarke brings the bread to her mouth once more with her shaking hands.

It isn't until after Clarke has finished does the Commander approach. Bellamy's eyes are pulled instantly to the movements, he feels his heart hammering through his chest as he watches the Commander take a few more cautious steps. He can see something cradled in the Commander's hand and can only assume it's some sort of weapon, from this angle Bellamy is sure she is holding a rock. Bellamy reaches for his empty cup and holds it firmly in his hand as he raises it in defense.

"Bell?" Clarke asks in confusion.

Lexa stills her movements for just a moment before she continues, albeit much slowly, towards Clarke. She kneels down a ways away from Clarke, and out of Bellamy's striking distance and places a metal cup down onto Clarke's tray. The water in the cup makes a sloshing sound as Lexa returns to her spot against the wall.

Clarke just stares at the cup and Bellamy knows she's deciding if she should reject the water out of pure spite but they both know she can't. They both know how weak her body is and how desperate they are.

"You need it, Clarke." He whispered.

He doesn't try to make sense of the Commander's offering. He doesn't try to think too much about it or who it came from and instead he thinks about the condition of Clarke's shoulder and the weakness of her body and how important it is that she drinks this water right now. Bellamy grabs the cup and brings it to Clarke's mouth before she can protest.

She puts her hand over the metal container as Bellamy lifts it slowly. There isn't much water in the cup to begin with, the Queen's guards hadn't been very generous with their portions today but Bellamy insures that Clarke gets every drop they can find. She drinks it eagerly and swallows it all down in a gulp. Bellamy places the cup down on the ground and looks up to see Lexa watching them. He feels he must be mistaken when he sees the small smile that tugs at the corner of her lips.

He can feel the anger returning to him again. The offer, the help, the small smile like she had just saved the world and everything was good again just made him more furious. He knew that one day, Clarke would forgive The Commander for that betrayal on the Mountain and accept the bullshit excuse of helping her people first and part of him feels like the twisted part of Clarke would some day accept the attack on Camp Jaha too.

None of Clarke's forgiveness would make the people on the Mountain any less dead. It wouldn't make any of his friends less dead. He can't bear to have Lexa's eyes on him and hates it even more to know they are on Clarke as well. Bellamy can remember The Commander's words in the war room as clear as day. She had stood in front of them and particularly confessed her love for Clarke, yet she stood by and watched Clarke get beaten and tortured by the Ice Queen.

Maybe all of that was some twisted version of Grounder love that they didn't quite understand. And Clarke would have no part in this brutal game the Grounders played. He wouldn't allow it. He knows Clarke felt something for the Commander and apart of him feels like, even after everything Lexa has done and all the misery she has put Clarke through, Clarke still feels something for her. And he hates that he can feel that pull Lexa seems to have on her. Even know Clarke's eyes are drawn to the Commander, he can see the way she studies her when she thinks he isn't looking. The Commander can use whatever excuse she can make up to convince Clarke of her innocence but at the end of the day she killed all of those people inside of Mount Weather, it was just Clarke who did her dirty work for her. The Commander sent those forces that attacked the Dropship, she forced Clarke to make the choice burn those warriors alive.

It was the Commander's job to get someone else to get their hands dirty while she sat back and watched all the destruction unfold around her. It was about someone ended her reign of destruction.

"Bell?" Clarke asked again.

He hadn't realized he had been staring at the Commander and even less did he realize that she was staring right back at him. He could see the warning in her glare, as if she had been reading his thoughts the entire time.

"Are you okay?" Clarke said. She placed a hand on his arm and he could feel the heat radiating off her, the fever had spread out to her entire body.

"You're shaking." Clarke added.

He was already pushing up to his feet. He shoved Clarke's hand away without really thinking about it. He strode to the Commander's place on the wall, kicking her food tray and uneaten portion of bread across the cell. The Commander stepped forward to meet him.

They locked eyes in the darkness. The Commander seemed so much less threatening without her black war paint. She was so small without an army of warriors and guards surrounding her. She was just a small girl without her swords. Still, there was the voice in the back of his head telling him that the Grounders followed her for a reason. He had watched Octavia take out men twice his size without batting and eye and knew that their Commander could do much more damage.

All he wanted to do was kill her.

He wrapped his hands around her neck but only managed to have a grip for a couple of a seconds before the Commander dropped him with a swift kick to the inside of his lower leg. He dropped to a one knee, before he could recover the Commander kicked him hard in the chest. All the wind sucked from his chest, Bellamy feel forward onto his hands and as he tried to regain his breath. He could see the Commander raise a fist above him. He braced for her next strike-

"Stop." Clarke attempted to shout from her position on the floor but it came out more of a dry gasp.

The Commander froze her movements as she looked back at Clarke. Bellamy used the distraction to kick at The Commander's knee. She noticed the attack at the last minute and avoided the attack by jumping backwards. He rose to his feet as the Commander regained her footing.

He stepped forward and aimed his right fist for the Commander's nose but it was sloppy, even Bellamy knew that. The Commander stepped aside and Bellamy fell forward with his momentum and the Commander added a strong kick to his lower back. The kick sent Bellamy tumbling forward into the stone wall, he braced himself but his face still slammed against the wall, his nose began to bleed again.

He ignored the pain, he threw a low elbow as he turned, catching The Commander off guard and connecting with her stomach, she let out a grunt as she stumbled backwards again.

"Stop!" Clarke shouted. She was on her feet and stumbling to block the space between them.

Clarke created a buffer and all fighting stopped as the watched Clarke standing on shaky feet between them. Her hands outstretched to create spacing between the two. Bellamy eyed Lexa from the other side of Clarke's wingspan and could see her breathing easy as Bellamy sucked in heavy breaths. He could taste the metallic flavor of his own blood on his lips.

"The Queen wants us to kill each other." Clarke said. She was out of breath as she spoke and he could see Clarke's legs shaking from the strain of simply holding up her own weight. "But we should-." Clarke staggered a bit on her feet. Her head fell forwards as if it had become to heavy for her neck. She still tried to speak even as she began to tumble to the ground. "We should-"

"Clarke!" The Commander called out. She stepped forward to catch Clarke before he head hit the hard stone.

The walls of the Palace shook. It rumbled even into the depths of the dungeon, dust from the ceiling came down onto their head and shoulders. Bellamy exchanged a look with the Commander as they listened to the sounds of the guards scrambling in panic.

There was another sound, it almost sounded like an explosion muffled by the rock and stone. It rocked the dungeon again, sending more dust raining down.

He looked over at The Commander and saw her pleased smile on her face but it quickly faded when she looked back down at the blonde she was holding upright in her arms.


	15. Explosions

**/*Author's Note: Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. Life has gotten the better of me. Thanks to all that read and review I look forward to hearing your feedback!*/**

Clarke felt as though she was in the belly of a 90 foot tall stone giant. She could feel the ground shaking underneath her. The shaking following rumblings and this faint pop, pop, popping sound that she couldn't quite place.

She tried to open her eyes but that only made the spinning in her head worse and the way her head was bobbing only made it feel like her brain was slamming against the side of her head. Someone was carrying her, she could tell that much and that someone was running down a stone path. She could hear the echo with each frantic step and she felt her head shake as the boots slammed against the ground. A shock of pain drifted through her shoulder with each jolt.

"This way." She heard a familiar voice call from up ahead.

It was Lexa.

"There's no way I'm just going to blindly follow you." She heard Bellamy's voice just above her and knew he was the one carrying her. Clarke felt a wave of relief. She knew he was still okay and they were in this together which was all that mattered at the moment. He was the only thing she had left.

She could hear Lexa sigh. She finally managed to open her eyes to look up at the spinning figure of Lexa coming towards her and Bellamy.

Lexa wore no war paint and still her eyes looked dark and furious as she approached. Clarke could feel Bellamy shrink a bit as the Commander stepped towards them.

"We don't have time for this." The Commander snapped.

Clarke saw Lexa's eyes flicked down and she did a double take when Lexa found Clarke watching her. Her eyes somehow softened in a split second and she was no longer the fierce and unforgiving Commander but instead she was the Lexa Clarke had come to know in the time before the Mountain. Then she remembered that The Commander had ordered the attack on Camp Jaha and had her entire people completely wiped out.

The Commander was willing to sacrifice everything and everyone to save her people. She was a monster disguised behind beautiful green eyes. How much of the real Lexa had she actually gotten to know and how much of it was a guise?

"Clarke." Lexa called softly. Her hand reached out to touch Clarke's face but Bellamy pulled Clarke away and out of Lexa's reach. The movement sent spikes of pain through her shoulder and Clarke couldn't help but cry out.

Bellamy cursed under his breath. "Are you okay?" She looked up to see Bellamy's eyes on her.

"Can you put me down now?" She asked as she tried to climb out of Bellamy's grasp. He adjusted the hold so she could ease herself down onto her own wobbly knees. She was definitely not at her best but she was sure she could handle at least walking by herself. She didn't need to be carried like a baby.

"What's going on?" She asked when she finally steadied herself.

"That's a great question." Bellamy countered. He looked over at Lexa who was standing in the middle of the hallway.

As soon as Lexa opened her mouth to speak a shout came from down the hall. Clarke glanced over her shoulder to see four guards heading towards them in the narrow hallway. She felt Lexa push passed them to face off with the guards. Clarke felt inclined to shout after her once she saw that both of Lexa's hands were empty. Instead she remained silent, her feet frozen to the ground as she prepared to watch whatever was about to unfold in front of them.

The guards may have out numbered Lexa in the narrow space but she seemed to have the advantage. They carried broad swords and heavy axes that Clarke realized were useless in such a narrow space. The first guard stepped forward and tried to jab his sword into The Commander's stomach. She sidestepped out of the blades path. The lunge left the guard's arm exposed to the Commander. She grabbed it and twisted it in a direction it wasn't supposed to go. There was a grunt of pain and then a sickening crunch as The Commander brought her elbow down onto the arm. The guard let out a scream of pain that echoed off stone walls.

The Commander pulled a knife from the debilitated guard's belt. He fell to the ground screaming and clutching his arm. The next two guards stepped over the writhing body of their comrade and came face-to-face with a now armed Commader. The first guard raised his weapon, a heavy axe. It's blade slammed against the ceiling with a loud metallic sound. He turned to inspect the source of the sound and that was enough time for The Commander to react. She moved like lighting. Her arm swept across in one fluid movement.

Clarke hadn't even seen what The Commander had done until she saw the blood pouring out of his neck. He fell with his hands reaching for the wound at his throat. The second guard was on the floor too, Clarke had been so distracted by the man bleeding from his neck to even noticed that the Commander had buried the knife to the hilt into the chest of the nest guard.

The room stilled. The Commander paced the hall like a caged animal, waiting for the final guard to step forward but he remained still and just stared. Clarke saw his eyes drift down to the bodies strewn in front of him. The only sounds were the grunts of pain from the lone live guard writhing on the floor.

The guard dropped his short sword to the ground. It fell with a metallic clank as he removed the knife from his belt. The Commander knelt down to pull the knife from body in front of her. The guard took off running towards her before the Commander rose back to her feet. The Commander still moved slow and meticulously, she wound up and threw the knife forward. It buried into his left eye and he crumbled to his knees. his hands reached up to inspect the damage as his body crumpled forward.

He didn't move again.

Lexa relieved him of his knife and tucked it into her belt. She came back to Clarke and Bellamy. There was no expression on the Commander's face, as she walked right past the pair of them without another word.

Clarke couldn't help but follow. She thought it was partially on instinct and partially for self-preservation. The Commander might have been a killer but she was their ticket out of this palace and she would stick by her as long as she needed to get Bellamy and herself out of this place alive.

* * *

Bellamy could hear the popping sounds more clearly now, they were still far away but they were getting stronger as the walked the seemed so familiar. Still he couldn't quite place the source of the noise.

He turned a corner, the whistling of wind met them along with a blast of cold air. He noticed Clarke wrap her arms around herself from the corner of his eye and knew she felt it too. The Commander didn't hesitate at the sounds or the temperature, she trudged forward set on her destination, Bellamy didn't know how she could even know where they were going. Still they followed even as the sounds grew stronger. Bellamy began to question the decision to follow the Commander. She had betrayed them twice before, what's to stop her now.

Where was she leading them to now? How could they trust her?

He tried to whisper to Clarke out of the  
Commander's earshot. Either the whistling of the wind was too loud for Clarke to hear him calling for her or she didn't want to hear what Bellamy had to say.

He wondered if she was even all there or or if she was just trying to focus on putting one foot in front of the other.

The whistling noise grew louder and with it the pop, pop, popping sound was more distinct in Bellamy's ears. They sounded like tiny little explosions that made small cracks against the wind. He couldn't make sense of what could be making such a sound. They rounded a corner and Bellamy felt himself smacked in the face by a strong gust of winter wind. The bitter cold send him stumbling backwards, he could see Clarke steadying herself against the wall. She stopped short and let out a gasp.

The source of the wind was a large hole three levels high into the side of the palace. The entire outside wall had been blown off, exposing the innards of the Ice Queen's palace to the elements. Smoke was still rising from the rubble. As Bellamy looked out a few pieces of brick fell from the floor above and fell into the pile in front.

The Commander started climbing over the rubble and turned to offer her hand to Clarke. Clarke ignored her. Instead she chose to scale the piles of smoking bricks and stone on her own weakened knees. It killed Bellamy to watch her struggle.

He could only watch as she stumbled forward on a pile, her hands reaching forward to stop her fall on instinct. Clarke let out a cry at the pain from her shoulder and Bellamy rushed forward to offer his hand. Clarke sighed before she accepted it. He pulled Clarke to her feet with great effort. Still she insisted on scaling the rubble on her own power.

Bellamy followed closely behind, taking longer then he really needed so Clarke could rest her aching body. The air was colder now that they were out of what little defense against the wind that the crumbled wall provided. He looked out and saw the wilderness that surrounded the Palace. There were trees lining the entire view, a thick forest that seemed to fade into darkness under its canopy. In the distance he could make out three distinct figures, they were watching them and he hesitated, afraid of stumbling into another of the Ice Queen's traps.

It was the Commander who proceeded forward and seemed to be heading directly towards the figures. Bellamy let her. The Commander wasn't his responsibility, he didn't care if she lived or died. He had lost all use he had for he. He no longer had a people to protect from her armies. He just needed to take Clarke to a healer and get her as far away from The Commander as possible.

Clarke allowed Bellamy to help her navigate the steep rubble and they paused once their feet touched the soft grass at the bottom. The figures drew closer, Bellamy could make out three distinct shapes of horses. He heard the patter of hooves against the frozen ground.

Her face came into view. The wave of relief washed over him. He smiled.

"Octavia." He said. He stepped forward to meet the approaching figures just to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him.

It was Octavia. Safe and smiling at him riding atop her favorite horse. The same one she had always insisted on taking during their scouting missions, even when they had a perfectly fine armored jeep coming along. Behind her Lincoln trodden up atop a horse who's fur was a dark as night he held the reigns of a riderless horse in tow behind him. Nothing was on the horse except a small pack tied across its rump.

Octavia's smile was bright. Full of the usual pride and confidence that she had always seemed to carry since they landed on the ground. It would never stop to impress him to see how much his little sister had grown in such a short amount of time. She had really found herself on the ground.

"Took you long enough brother." She said with a grin. She scanned the group, her eyes fell on Clarke and the smile on Octavia's face faded.

"What happened?" She said. Their jovial conversation had taken a serious tone.

"She was attacked by a wolf." Bellamy said.

He exchanged a look with the Commander and he hoped she could feel the daggers in his glare. There were things that remained unspoken. Things he didn't have time to explain to Octavia right now.

He could sense the question on the tip of Octavia's tongue. Bellamy was relieved when Lincoln broke the tension when he stepped forward and handed the reigns of the riderless horse to the Commander.

She took it with a greatful nod and jumped atop her horse with one swift motion.

His eyes drifted back to Octavia, she lowered her head to avoid his gaze. The anger swelled in the pit of his stomach, it twisted into knots as he tried to make sense of it all.

"You helped burn Camp Jaha." Bellamy said.

Octavia's eyes shot up, they were wide and shocked and so full of guilt that Bellamy would have laugh if he didn't feel so sick to his stomach.

"She was following my orders." The Commander spoke as if that made anything better. As, if she being ordered to burn their home to the ground and help the grounders kill all his friends made it all okay.

They were her people and she just destroyed everything.

Then again.

"They were never your people were they? "Bellamy spoke his thoughts aloud and saw the way Octavia's head dipped just a little bit more. He felt a sense of accomplishment at that.

"Bell-" She said in defense

But there was nothing she could say. There was no way she could make it better.

"It would be better if you died in a grounder attack." Bellamy said. He stepped back and reached his hand out for Clarke and began to guide her away from the others. "At least you would still be my sister."

Clarke took one step to follow him before he felt her crumbled underneath him.

Octavia was off her horse and at her side before Bellamy could react. The commander was right next to her. Lincoln pressed the back of his hand to Clarke's forehead. It wasn't there very long before he withdrew his hand.

"Her fever is dangerously high." Lincoln said. "We need to cool her body. There's a stream nearby with water that flows from the top of the mountains, it will be cool and clean." Lincoln rose to his feet and turned to The Commander. "Heda, you're our fastest rider." Lincoln bowed his head in a sign of respect.

"I'll take her." The Commander responded immediately. "But-"

She was interrupted by the crackle of a radio, Bellamy noticed the radio clipped to the the side of her belt. It looked so foreign with all her grounder clothing and warfare that Bellamy was surprised he hadn't noticed it before.

"They... our... Guns... " The voice over the radio said. The radio crackled with static and hi the speakers words were hard to understand but Bellamy recognized that voice.

" Is that-?" Bellamy began.

Octavia shushed him as the radio crackled again.

"... Help..." The voice crackled again.


End file.
